


✆ vital signs (remodelling!)

by bitesizedliu



Category: EXO (Band), GOT7, Red Velvet (K-pop Band), SHINee, 방탄소년단 | Bangtan Boys | BTS
Genre: Aggression, Alternate Universe - Lotto (EXO Music Video), Alternate Universe - Lucky One (EXO Music Video), Alternate Universe - Modern: Still Have Powers, Alternate Universe - Monster (EXO Music Video), Betrayal, Blood and Gore, Character Death, Corruption, Death, Drinking, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, F/F, F/M, Fighting, Gangs, Guns, Hospitals, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, I Tried, I'm Bad At Tagging, I'm Going to Hell, I'm Sorry, M/M, Manipulation, Medicine, Mental Breakdown, Mind Manipulation, Oops, Other Fandoms Not Mentioned in Tags, Other Ships Not Mentioned in Tags, Poisoning, Rescue Missions, Swearing, Tags Are Hard, Tags Contain Spoilers, Tags May Change, Weapons, What Have I Done, What Was I Thinking?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-03
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-02-27 22:21:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 21,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13257807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bitesizedliu/pseuds/bitesizedliu
Summary: yixing knew who he was, what he was capable of, and how to hide it. he kept his head low and out of business that wasn't his. so why is it that yixing found himself stuck in a world he never wanted to be a part of?in a whirlwind of yixing's new life, he finds himself with new allies- and enemies- and must figure out how to protect himself and his friends. he must learn who to trust, who the enemy really is, and how to win his battles- internal and out.





	1. ✆ front matter

**✆ vital signs: setting + characters**

 

places:

 

 

> most of the referenced places will be hospital ver. of entertainment agencies (ex. j.y. park hospital (jyp), sooman healthcare center (sm))

characters:

 

 

> this story will mostly deal with sm artists, since it's from yixing's perspective and he is from sm. other artists from outside agencies will be referenced briefly (subject to change)
> 
> if you read the tags, you would hopefully understand that most mentioned characters willhave  _powers!_
> 
> so just a brief reminder on exo's powers
> 
>   * Jongin (Kai) - Teleportation
> 

>   * Jongdae (Chen) - Lightning
> 

>   * Junmyeon (Suho) - Water
> 

>   * Chanyeol - Fire
> 

>   * Baekhyun - Light
> 

>   * Yixing (Lay) - Healing
> 

>   * Sehun - Wind
> 

>   * Kyungsoo (D.O.) - Earth
> 

>   * Minseok (Xiumin) - Frost
> 

>   * Zitao (Tao) - Time
> 

>   * Yifan (Kris) - Flight
> 

>   * Luhan - Telepathy
> 

> 
> i will announce other characters' powers soon on!
> 
>  
> 
> finally, most characters will go by their birth names rather than stage names (ex. yixing = lay), except for an example i cannot share without giving away the story
> 
>  

this is a story i'm very excited about so i hope you all enjoy it as much as i do

 

 

this story was inspired by several tumblr and ao3 stories that i will link to here:

[Protected - Yixing/Reader](https://nunchiwrites.tumblr.com/post/157369096227/protected-yixing-x-reader-au-series-chapter-1)

[Inhumans - Yixing/Reader](http://clevernewdimension.tumblr.com/post/156051224019/inhuman-part-one)

[Crossfire - Luhan/Yixing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11740314)

[Mauvais Sang (An Escape In Your Arms) - Baekhyun/Yixing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8537677/chapters/19573327)

[We Bleed The Same - Baekhyun/Yixing](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13366056)

 


	2. i. little lamb

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> yixing wants to do something other than sit in triage all night.

“ah, zhang, i’ve put you on triage for tonight,” the charge nurse, kim jonghyun, said, pointing at yixing. “yifan will be working reception, so i hope things will run smoothly.”

 

yixing nodded dutifully but sighed, tucking his belongings in his company issued locker. of course he wanted to be making rounds and helping patients in need, put the seniority system in the e.r. said otherwise. for now, yixing had to deal with the outrageous people that came in lying  with even more appalling stories. sooman hospital definitely pulled in those types of people.

 

it wasn’t a bad job, though. yixing was fresh out of medical school when he applied for a position at sooman healthcare center. the board called him back for an interview and soon after, he was hired. yixing had gone through several weeks of procedural trainings and hadn’t started actual work until about three months ago. it was stressful and there was always a laundry list of things to be done, but working as a nurse was tremendously gratifying. yixing has always been one to want to help others.

 

and so he worked diligently all night, because yixing loved to help. he listened diligently to patients with genuine concerns or those who lied through their teeth. yixing asked questions when they were necessary, then determined whether said patient’s issue was urgent or could wait for just a bit longer.

 

that was something yixing found entertaining: the waiting room. on a normal night, yixing would see at least a dozen people in their waiting room, either on stand by for a nurse or doctor, or on watch for the news of a loved one. sometimes, when people were particularly antsy, they’d pick a fight with yixing.

 

“but i was here before her!” a elderly woman had once yelled at yixing, holding her grandson’s arm up for yixing to see. “his arm definitely needs stitches!”

 

yixing had placed a hand on the grandmother’s shoulder. “and i understand, halmeoni, but this nice young lady here, well, she’s cut off part of her nose. she is need of much more assistance right now. i promise we will attend to your grandson.”

 

he led the young woman back to the nurse without another word, productively shutting the woman up.

 

it was always like that, people getting upset at yixing for doing his job, but oddly enough, yixing liked it. no, he  _ loved  _ it. yixing loved his job and everything about it. being a nurse, an emergency room nurse, was satisfying in ways yixing couldn't begin to explain. he got to see the most results out of patients, some of them going from being on their deathbed to the road to recovery.

 

“yixing, you are too cruel,” yixing’s coworker luhan joked as they took a break outside. yixing would've guessed it was around one in the morning. “i can’t believe you keep giving me such terrible patients!”

 

yixing laughed as he took a bite of his sandwich. “well, i don't think tiffany would've been as kind and patient as you, luhan. we all know she has a temper.”

 

“well, i guess you’re right,” luhan said with a slight chuckle.

 

yixing scoffed. “when am i not?”

 

“don’t get cocky, you’re still a little lamb in this field.”

 

✆

 

yixing eventually made it home around three in the morning, after staying a bit late to help with a trauma patient that came in right as he was leaving. he checked his mail on the ground floor of his apartment and sighed when he saw the bills. yixing couldn’t ask his parents to help him now, not after they’d paid for his education completely. and it wasn’t cheap, either. his mother started working overtime to pay for college, and yixing hated the stress it had put on his family. he planned to pay for his parents’ retirement in thanks, but it was hard to pay for someone else when he could hardly pay for his own water.

 

“home sweet home,” yixing murmured to himself as he turned the door handle and was greeted by an empty apartment.

 

he wasn’t afraid to admit it, yixing was lonely. college was full of funny roommates and a big circle of friends, and now, he didn’t have anyone living with him. all of his ‘buddies’ chose to move to big cities or got recruited by talent agencies, since most of them were music majors. 

 

yixing was once a music major, too, but that dream was long since dead. the musical profession was a hard industry to get recognized in, and becoming a medical professional was much more successful. what happened when yixing grew “too old” for an entertainment company and had to throw in the towel? at the hospital, the longer you had been at it, the more respect you earned. the seniority system at the hospital was no joke.

 

still, he didn’t give up music completely. yixing still had the guitar his parents gave him for christmas when he was seventeen, and just recently he had invested in a dinky keyboard to practice songs on. it wasn't much, but it was just enough to bring yixing back to his happy place.

 

yixing hardly had the energy to shower, so when he finally made it to his bed, he fell asleep without a second’s hesitation. the night shift was utterly exhausting.

 

✆

 

yixing woke to his phone ringing, and groggily reached up to see who was calling this early. “good morning, mom,” he greeted.

 

“son! have you seen the news?” his mother was audibly stressed, which automatically sent yixing’s mind in a frenzy. she wasn’t one to normally get worked up, and she hardly called as well.

 

yixing reached for the remote and flicked on the tv. he wasn’t normally one to watch current events. after browsing the channels he found a popular news station and waited for some breaking news to appear on the screen.

 

“mom, there’s nothing but the weather,” yixing told her. it was about to colder outside, despite the warmth seoul felt last week. “what happened?”

 

she sighed. “a hospital was-”

 

“wait, wait,” yixing interrupted. the television had begun showing camera footage of a hospital not far from sooman. there was smoking and hospital staff and patients running out.

 

_ “last night’s attack on j.y. park hospital left both nurses and patients shaken. security cameras captured video of two unidentified men wreaking havoc on the e.r. for seemingly no reason. luckily, no person was injured or killed, but four staff members and one patient have not been seen since last night, these individuals are: emergency staff park jin young, baek ah yeon, son chaeyoung, and patient park sung jin. if you have been in recent contact with any of these missing people, please alert your local law enforcement as of immediately. officer kim jisoo with words on the case-” _

 

“it wasn’t my hospital, if that’s why you were calling,” yixing said into the phone after too long of a silence. he was shocked, disgusted at what he saw on the screen. “it is close to me, though.”

 

“i know this sounds awful, but thank god. please be safe, xingxing!”

 

yixing smiled, even if his mom couldn't see it. “i will, mom. don't worry too much about me.”


	3. ii. secrets

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> his first laugh of the second week came from a man with untamed auburn hair and a smile that screamed mischief.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY READER! YES, YOU! LISTEN UP:
> 
> updates on this story will be very sporadic due to all my school stress right now, but here is a second chapter for you lovelies!  
> please, leave comments on what you do/don't like about my story or writing style, because i'm trying to get unbiased opinions.
> 
> as always, kudos and comments are very much appreciated! enjoy the chapter :)

one week and eight safety procedure meetings later, yixing was back to working regular shifts again. security had been increased since j.y. park hospital was attacked, now with more new (and unfriendly) police personnel roaming about the hospital. yixing didn't like seeing the unfamiliar people in the break room; they unsettled him far too much.

his first laugh of the second week came from a man with untamed auburn hair and a smile that screamed mischief.

the stranger’s friend, xiumin, explained the situation. xiumin shook the auburn haired man, baekhyun, rather roughly, pulling him out of his dazed stupor. baekhyun jolted upright from his slumping position on the chair, muttering a quiet, _“fuck you”_ before nodding back to sleep.

“so, baekhyun and i were sparring, like we do every thursday night,” minseok explained, running his fingers through his dark black hair. “and i swiped his legs out from under him, he fell, and then was knocked unconscious. it was an accident, really. i hadn’t meant for baekhyun to fall so hard.”

“how long was he asleep?” yixing asked, taking his ophthalmoscope off the wall and crouching beside baekhyun. slowly, yixing coaxed baekhyun to lift his head and open his eyes. “watch my finger,” yixing instructed.

“a few minutes,” xiumin answered. “nothing more. but he’s been acting weird since. always dizzy or sleepy.”

yixing noted that baekhyun’s pupils were two different sizes. “and you said this was thursday evening?”

“around eight o'clock, yeah.”

yixing stood, peering at his computer for a brief second before looking back at xiumin. “then why is it that i’m seeing him almost twenty four hours later?”

xiumin looked a bit guilty, but baekhyun was the one to answer. “chanyeol said i was okay,” he muttered sleepily, his head slumping into his hand again.

“chanyeol?” yixing got to his feet, reaching over to baekhyun and asking him to try and stand as well. “you can do that for me, yeah?”

baekhyun stood, wobbly, and gave a bright smile before his knees gave. yixing was quick to support though, wrapping one arm around baekhyun's waist and the other under his arms. “easy there.”

from this close, yixing took in baekhyun’s features. soft, downturn lips, a narrow nose, and tired eyes that still shone with lingering fire all caught yixing's attention.

yixing cleared his throat, helping baekhyun sit back down. “who is chanyeol?”

“our roommate,’ baekhyun said, with a chuckle. “we have a lot.”

“yeah? tell me, baekhyun, do you have any allergies?” yixing sat at his computer, eyes flicking from baekhyun to the screen.

“i don't know, do i?”  baekhyun said with a wink.

xiumin groaned. “he doesn’t.”

it went like this until yixing suggested taking baekhyun back for a cat scan and called yifan up to triage.

“yeah, i’m sure it’s a concussion, let’s just check.” yixing knew that baekhyun and xiumin should’ve waited in the waiting room until they became more of priority, but yixing was filled with a sudden need to help the pair out.

by the time yifan arrived, baekhyun was incoherently mumbling to himself and xiumin was apologizing profusely. yifan stopped in the doorway, greeting yixing before glancing over at the pair of men. yixing's coworker stared at xiumin and baekhyun for a moment too long before coming to his senses.

“what's the issue?” yifan asked smoothly, as if he hadn't just gaped at yixing’s patients.

yixing eyed yifan warily before answering, explaining the possible need for a cat scan. yifan nodded slowly, seeming perplexed, but did as yixing said.

“follow me,” yifan told baekhyun, helping the latter to his feet and out the door.

xiumin cleared his throat awkwardly before standing. “thank you, sir. i’ll just be in the waiting room if you have more questions about baekhyun. good night.”

yixing muttered a goodbye to xiumin, still curious about yifan’s behavior. did yifan know baekhyun, or xiumin?

it left yixing unsettled.

  
✆

 

yixing spent another shift in triage, but at least it was interesting.

this time it was not patient, but a family of one sitting in the waiting room. as soon as yixing heard the yelling, he rushed out into the open space, panic taking hold inside him.

what he saw almost made him burst out laughing. a woman who must've been in her sixties, or more, stood screaming and pointing passionately at a television, saying _“this is disgusting!”_ and _“get this off the t.v.!”_

pulling at her arm was a boy around seventeen or so, panic on his face as he told bystanders, “she's not normally like this. i’m so sorry, sorry.”

“what's the issue, ma'am?” yixing approached the woman with caution.

the woman looked at him angrily. “turn off the channel please! i do _not_ want to see those disgusting beings on the news, and neither does my boy!”

yixing spared a glance at the son, who looked at him with full embarrassment.

“she hasn't been taking her meds,” he said quietly.

yixing gently placed a hand on the woman's shoulder. “let's get you settled in a room, how about that?”

after a nurse came a escorted the woman to the back, her son chasing after them, yixing glanced at the news. it showed a group of uniform men, not police officers, holding off a crowd of protesters holding signs saying, _“it's their birthright”_ and _“keep the genes alive”._

yixing knew why the woman was upset now. the scene on the news was the biggest political controversy of the century. inhumans. dating even before medieval times, inhumans are human beings that were born with powers of all sorts. their abilities come from genes passed through families, years and years of the same bloodlines carrying a special capability. in the times of monarchs and kings, those citizens who were inhuman were exalted, being promoted to high government positions, because they were considered to be divine children of gods.

 eventually things started to change. in more later years, around the nineteen twenties, regular humans started questioning why inhumans were given more power, why their lives were considered superior over others. yixing was surprised people hadn’t fought it before.

revolts, revolutions, and protests began raging soon after. in nineteen forty-three the united states was the first to declare inhumans illegal, which yixing found amusing. america was someplace a good amount of people in china considered a ‘safe haven’ for people of other cultures. funny how that worked.

it took a good while, but eventually other countries began outlawing them as well to prevent violence. china took quite a deal longer. in two thousand two, china banned inhuman presence in the country, making the punishment death. that same year, a few months later, yixing left china to study in south korea, planning at age eleven to become a doctor. his family adopted korean culture, trying to make the transition easy, but it was anything but.

the koreas were the last country to outlaw inhumans, right in the same month yixing’s family settled in their quiet neighborhood. it was hard, yixing remembered, watching rioters and protesters parade down their street, screaming and chanting and doing everything they could to ensure twelve year old yixing would never fall asleep.

yixing’s mother, as much as she tried to shield yixing from the news, couldn’t keep yixing’s prying away from the current events.

it wasn’t hard to admit, yixing’s heart hurt for the inhumans forced to leave their countries, their homes and families. his heart ached for those that didn’t make it away and died, or for those who lived in constant hiding and fear. he hurt for all of them at once.

yixing hurt, because he knew. he knew when his family left china, when his mother told him not to speak of the inhumans, to not sympathize. deep down, yixing knew.

yixing knew he was an inhuman, too.

 

✆

 

it wasn't that yixing hid his powers necessarily, but he was just subtle enough to know he was making a slight difference. yixing wasn't very powerful, he couldn't throw boulders or create illusions with his mind. he could heal. he could save lives in subtle ways through the hospital.

 through simple touches, brushes of hands, yixing could turn a severe concussion into a hardy headache. it was enough to make a difference but not obvious enough to know his cover. yixing found emergency medicine was the best place for him, since most people coming in weren't always taken seriously and exaggerated their stories to get in sooner.

yixing was happy, for once. he felt as if he was finally contributing to society.

 

✆

 

 yixing started taking more shifts at the hospital. he stayed later in the e.r. and even began picking up day shifts.

 “zhang, you are killing me with all these extra shifts,” the hospital scheduler, kang seulgi, grumbled.

 yixing shrugged. “sorry, not sorry?”

 the truth was that he was loving the extra work. it gave yixing a way to fill his time and plus, he didn't mind the extra money. yixing was able to get on top of his bills and start putting away a little cash away into savings.

yixing didn't feel so lonely anymore, also. his friendships at sooman were becoming stronger and more enjoyable. luhan invited him out to drinks. yifan took yixing to see the new star wars movie, because they both talked about the last one for days on end.

it was a welcomed change.

“whatever, yixing!” seulgi yelled, amusement laced in her words. “get back to work, you!” 

yixing walked out of the hall laughing. “you love me, seulgi!”

“no, i don't!”

 

✆

 

“zhang, luhan needs you in room ten,” yifan says, patting yixing on the shoulder. “something about starting an iv.” 

“he could have just radioed me,” yixing grumbled.

yifan laughed. “you know he's weird about that stuff.”

“yeah, i know. i’ll go see him in ten.”

yixing strode down the e.r. halls, waving or saying “how are you?” to some of his closer coworkers. he ignored the gruff looking police officer that stared yixing down as he passed.

as yixing approached the side hall that was home to room ten, he heard low voices arguing.

“he's going to find out sooner or later,” one said, his voice raspy. “you need to tell him before he gets hurt… or worse.”

“i’m not telling him yet, he won't understand!” yixing knew the second man. luhan. what was he talking about?

“besides, i’m here to protect him. he's safe at the hospital. don't ask to induct yixing into… whatever it is that you guys have.”

yixing’s ears perked up at the sound of his name. inducted? into what?

“get out of here, chanyeol,” luhan snapped. the name was familiar to yixing, but he couldn't place where. “i have a job to do, and yixing will be here any moment.”

“don't forget this, luhan.” footsteps sounded, then fade to nothing. yixing heard luhan sigh, then open a room door. he deemed it safe enter.

with a quick rap on the door, yixing called out. “heyo? anyone in here?”

“ah, yixing. i need some quick assistance starting this i.v,” luhan said as he approaches. he's visibly stressed. his hair was messy and his eyes were red. this was exactly how luhan looks when work is especially busy or he’s just dealt with a trauma patient. his hands get shaky and he fails to remember how to do regular hospital procedures, like start an i.v.

yixing nodded. “of course. are you alright?”

“of course,” luhan repeated with a smile that doesn’t meet his eyes. “can you help me real quick?”

“yeah, sure,” yixing said, unwillingly taking his eyes off luhan and directing his attention to the patient.

he was a older fellow, age eighty-two, according to his chart. yixing talked to him for a moment, asked him why he’s in the hospital. apparently the man had a stroke, but seems to being doing better.

“you’re a lucky man,” yixing stated, taking the i.v. luhan has ready for him. “now, you’re going to feel a little pinch, but it’ll be gone before you can blink.”

yixing started the i.v. with ease, and asked to see luhan in the hall after bidding the man goodbye. 

“‘han, talk to me,” yixing pleaded after they were in silence. “what's wrong? are you okay?”

luhan looked pained. “yixing, you won't understand.”

“i can't understand unless you tell me. i’m worried,” yixing confessed.

“i-i…,” luhan started, but faltered. “you can't know.”

yixing ran his hand through his hair. “cut it out, luhan. i heard you in the hallway. you're keeping a secret from me, and if it's that important, i need to know. i have guesses, but-”

“you know?” luhan interrupted, his eyes wide.

“know what?”

luhan took a deep breath. “that you’re-”

yixing’s radio buzzed, and luhan hesitated.

 _“hey, yixing,”_ jonghyun greeted. _“can you come to the front to pick up a patient? veronica assigned you someone.”_

yixing and luhan met eyes, the latter’s holding something indistinguishable. as much as yixing wanted to know, as much as he was dying to prod luhan to tell him whatever it was, he resigned.

to jonghyun, yixing said, “be right there,” to luhan, he said, “we’ll finish this conversation later.” yixing left luhan in the hallway, heading to the front.

  
✆

 

yixing never actually had the chance to speak to luhan again, because luhan skipped out on the rest of shift, leaving yifan and yixing to pick up his slack.

“i wouldn’t assume,” yifan said with a sigh, “luhan is going through a pretty tough time right now.”

 

 **> yixing: **sorry for getting angry earlier, i just wanted to know what you're hiding from me. i hope you can tell me the truth, sometime. i care about you, lu.

 **> luhan: **i care about you too, which is why i hope you'll never know.

 

yixing left it at that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. does luhan know about yixing's secret?  
> 2\. what was luhan discussing with chanyeol?  
> 3\. how does chanyeol play into this?
> 
> i'm so excited to give you guys the answers!


	4. iii. i.e.d.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "do you recognize these men?"  
> ...  
> "they've been watching you."  
> ...  
> "we didn't kill him!"  
> ...  
> nothing.

by the time yixing finished, he was craving a distraction. he stopped by a local pub around four in the morning, sitting at the bar and ordering a glass of whiskey. it had to have been at least four in the morning, and yixing worked in less than fifteen hours, but he couldn't bring himself to go home. sleeping would be fruitless.

after three or four glasses, yixing resigned from the bar stool to a much comfier corner booth, where he ordered another glass. his eyes were a bit droopy by the time a stranger sat down in front of him.

the stranger was tall, wearing a darkly colored business suit. in his right had was a briefcase and an umbrella, despite there being no rain, was in the other. yixing felt his hair stand up when the man let out a monotone, “morning.”

“who're you?” yixing asked, looking around the bar. there were plenty of empty seats, so this man was looking for something out of yixing.

the man did not introduce himself, which yixing found incredibly rude. yixing sat up to be eye level with this unannounced stranger.

“i asked a question.”

the man’s dark eyes flicked up at him in annoyance. “to which you do not need the answer too.”

yixing watched as the man pull his briefcase onto the top of the table, and at this point yixing noticed the gold “i.e.d” engraved on the handle. “i.e.d” stood for two things in south korea: improvised explosive device, or inhuman eradication department. by the looks of the man, he hardly guessed that there was a bomb in the bar.

the man set three photos in front of yixing. “do you recognize these men?”

yixing realized what this was. he had been in direct contact with inhumans, like himself, and now the government wanted to find them. this meant they didn’t know about yixing, not if they were sitting peacefully like this. if the government knew yixing was inhuman, he’d likely be in the back of a van in handcuffs, so yixing peered closer, feigning innocence. one photo was of a tall, gangly man whose body was mostly limbs. yixing didn’t recognize him. the second was of a shorter man, with closely cropped hair that, oddly enough, accentuated the roundness of his head. yixing didn’t know him either. the third man, however, was one yixing did know. he was yixing’s height, with tangled auburn hair that fell in front of his eyes and a smile that was recognizable anywhere.

yixing pushed the photos away. “i don’t know them.”

“you don’t?” the man sat his briefcase onto the booth seat, lacing his hands together and leaning into the table. “mr. zhang, let’s be honest here. you know who i am, yes? you know i know about you, correct?”

yixing took a deep breath. "i can't help you."

then yixing heard a  _click_ and he stiffened.

"you know what that is?" the man said with a smile.

warily, yixing asked, “yes?”

the man sat back a little, calling an order at the bartender for a drink yixing didn’t know. “you see, i.e.d knows about you, your family, your powers. the researchers i work with have found an interest in you.”

“why me?” yes, yixing was inhuman and that made him special, but to a degree.

“see? that’s what i wanted to know. as it turns out, your gene, the healer gene, is very- _extremely_ rare. you’re wonder to the scientists. they want to know what makes an inhuman like you tick.”

yixing searched the man’s eyes. they were cold and unreadable, and yixing needed to know more.

“i don’t have a choice, do i?” yixing asked, becoming very aware of how the atmosphere of the bar had shifted.

“if you choose to resist,” the man said, a smug smile inching across his face, “we’ll have to use force. but if you help us, there will be benefits.”

“help you how?”

“these men-” the man pointed at the three photos “-are enemies of the country. charged with treason, several accounts of murder, arson, kidnapping, and theft. they’re inhumans, on top of all of this. with your help, we can track them down one by one.”

yixing shook his head. “i’m not helpful to you. i have only seen one of them.”

the man laughed, an unsettling chuckle that made a shiver creep up yixing’s spine.

“they’ve been watching you, though.”

"what does that mean?"

the man sighed. "it means, mr. zhang, that you are desirable by  _criminals._ they want you to join them, become one of them. disgusting, isn't it? i urge you to come with me, come revolutionize the world. you'd be free, you'd have rights, and you'd be making a difference. don't you want that?"

"last i checked, the i.e.d. killed people like me." yixing looked at the door, seeing vendors and consumers setting up for the day. god, what time was it?

"we did, and sometimes we do," the man admitted. "but people like you, yixing, are special. we want your powers to help us change medicine forever. you'd be loved, accepted, and revered."

yixing held the man's gaze. "i have a hard time believing you."

he jumped up and took off in a sprint out the door. the man yixing was once with yelled something unintelligible, yixing couldn’t hear nor did he care. he took off down the sidewalk, pushing past pedestrians and then skirting into an alleyway. open gunfire sounded and someone yelled, but yixing’s adrenaline was blocking out most noise.

he landed in an alley that would take him towards main street, which was full of easy hiding spots. it was a long stretch, but yixing figured he had a big enough lead on the man to get away. gunshots sounded behind him loudly, though, ushering him to run faster. yixing was solely focused on running for his life as he realized there was likely more than one government official.  his suspicions were confirmed when more gunshots echoed across the alley.

just a yixing neared the end of the alleyway, another shot resounded through the air. almost immediately after, yixing felt a sharp pain on his right shoulder blade. yixing's running faltered slightly, pausing as he instantly threw his left hand over his right shoulder to the source of the pain. he felt a thin metal object between his fingers, and pulled it up towards his face.  
  
a tranquilizer.

his mind panicked, but yixing shook his head. “keep going. don't stop running. do not look back,” he told himself.

yixing threw the dart to the concrete, hastening his pace as he rounded another corner. he knew that the tranquilizer would make him lethargic, he would slow down, and i.e.d. would find him. taking a route yixing didn’t know was the best option. yixing heard someone still behind him, closing the distance, and yixing’s feet felt as though they were made of lead. a numbing sensation crept up his legs, then past his knees, and yixing was slowly losing control of his legs. yixing shook the feeling away as best he could.

he could hear main street’s usual bustle in the distance as a pain in his chest grew.

_almost there. keep moving._

yixing could see people walking amidst vendors. he started feeling pins and needles in his arms. his legs gave a little and yixing stumbled.

_don't stop now._

yixing's thoughts were swimming, his heart racing. he used the wall as a support as he stumbled down the alleyway, losing feeling in his lower torso.

_almost there._

the man was nearing, and yixing tried to rush himself.

_so close._

he heard the rustle of a footsteps behind him, and yixing panicked. was it another i.e.d.?

yixing didn't think about it long, for a hand latched onto his arm, yanking him back before yixing could even react. the hand relocated, snaking around yixing’s waist and effectively pinning yixing’s arms to his sides, all while a second hand covered yixing’s mouth as he tried to call for help.

then yixing was quite literally dragged into darkness, quickly dragged at that, and he finally came to his senses. he couldn't feel his lower half, his mind was groggy, but he knew that he had to get away from the i.e.d. yixing struggled the best he could against his attacker. he wiggled and tried to kick his legs, but it was to no avail. the person holding him was stronger than yixing.

“for the love of god, stop moving,” a man's voice said in yixing’s ear. “if you keep making noise, they'll find us. you and i both know that can’t happen.”

yixing stopped momentarily. the man could be trying to help him, but there was the chance that this man was someone trying to hurt him. yixing wasn’t intent on dying today.

so he started fighting again.

“shit!” another man hissed. “jongin, hold him still!”

“it's harder than you would imagine, kyungsoo!”

yixing's vision blurred, impairing his sight more. soon he could only hear faint voices, the pain in his chest and thrumming of his heart in his ears becoming more important distractions.

there was a flash of light and then something bright was burning his closed eyes- when did he shut them?

“what did you do to him? he looks like he’s going to have an aneurysm or something.”

“jongin grabbed him.”

“i didn’t hold him that hard!”

yixing heard movement, someone yelling faintly. he felt his body moving, but it wasn't him controlling any of it. he couldn't stop  _moving._  

“hold him still! god, what the hell happened?”

“i-i don’t know..”

“ _dude_ , you couldn't have killed him, could you?”

“we didn’t kill him!”

the voices soon became difficult for yixing to hear, but the tension seemed to have died down.

“i… with us… explain it to him.”

“...luhan.”

“he'll get over it… has to. we just need....”

and everything faded to nothing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> wow, this is what procrastination feels like. i need to be studying and doing homework but heck i don't need that to succeed in life pssh
> 
> i can't believe this story has received over 200 hits and 10 kudos! i'm so happy you all have made my day <3
> 
> questions, constructive criticism, concerns? leave me a comment!
> 
> love the story? give a me a kudos!
> 
> thanks babes, until next time!


	5. iv. trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “you almost died, yixing.”
> 
> “a tranquilizer doesn’t kill someone.”
> 
> “yeah, but the i.e.d. does.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i've had a lot of free time to write lately, and though i want to make a regular posting schedule, i can't bring myself to it. i love posting randomly and surprising you guys. hope you like the update!  
> -m

yixing felt like he was floating. where was he? was he even alive? he had a slight headache, but nothing else hurt.

when he opened his eyes, blinking repeatedly to adjust to the light, he was lying down in bedroom like area, with beige walls and dark brown curtains. the bed beneath him was warm and yixing was freezing. he groaned, moving to his side before remembering everything that happened. the i.e.d.. being kidnapped. it washed over him like a bucket of cold water, and yixing shot upright.

he took in his surroundings quickly. he was still in his scrubs from when he was kidnapped. in the corner of the room was a desk, on it with a bowl of water and a wet rag. next to yixing was a nightstand, full of medicine bottles yixing recognized as well as some he didn’t. perampanel, levetiracetam, acetazolamide were all medicines used for people with epilepsy or experienced seizures, yixing recalled. the most daunting thing, however, was the man sleeping in the chair to yixing’s right. he stirred and repositioned in the chair, never opening his eyes and not making a sound.

yixing silently slipped his legs out onto the floor, bracing himself to stand. he stood without an issue. the first step was the part that gave him away. yixing’s knees gave and he collapsed to the floor with a graceful, “ack!”

the man in the chair jolted awake, looking at yixing with a face full of panic.

“dude, are you okay,” the man asked. he wore a stern expression and brown-blond hair that was all sorts of messed around.

yixing held out his hand. “i’m fine, don’t come closer. i’ve got this on my own.”

the man laughed. “alright, man. i’ll just watch.”

he watched the man sit back in his chair, finding his fingernails more interesting than yixing. yixing pulled himself back to his feet, embarrassed that he fell like that. he leaned against the bed, trying to stretch his legs. it was then yixing noticed the man sticking his head out the door.

“what are you doing?” yixing asked. it looked as if the man was talking to someone.

the man glanced back at yixing. “getting junmyeon. he’ll be glad to know you’re awake and can speak like a human.”

he stuck out his hand. “sehun, by the way. oh sehun,” he greeted, and when yixing didn’t shake or answer, he said, “i’m inhuman, too.”

yixing almost didn’t shake this time either, but reached out to when the bedroom door swung up. a man, just a smidge shorter than yixing with ruffled chestnut hair, and a woman, shorter than the man, walked in, looking ecstatic to see yixing.

“yixing!” the new man greeted, strolling up beside yixing. “i’m so happy to see you moving. how do you feel?”

glancing at the three people in the room, yixing listed out his feelings: confused, dizzy, tired. “woozy. um, who are you?”

the man smiled. “my name is kim junmyeon , and this is my protege, bae joohyun,” he introduced as he gestured to the woman and him. the girl gave yixing a reassuring grin.

“so you feel a bit woozy? i suppose that’s a reasonable side effect,” junmyeon continued, talking to himself. yixing noticed joohyun looking at junmyeon intently, listening to his words with focus.

junmyeon turned to yixing. “do you feel like you might be sick? or that you might pass out?”

“no, but-”

“what about weakness? do you feel weak? or as if you can’t breathe?”

“a little weak, but i have some quest-”

“and anxiety? how-” junmyeon faltered when sehun put a hand on his shoulder.

sehun laughed. “he’s gonna be anxious if you don’t shut up.”

“yes, i suppose you’re correct,” junmyeon said with a sigh. “yixing, do you have questions for us?”

yixing, still propped against the bed, sat up straighter. “yeah, i do. where am i?”

“you’re in a inhuman safe house on the outskirts of seoul,” sehun answered. “we were the ones to save you from i.e.d..”

yixing let out a short bark of laughter. that was a rescue mission? more than anything, yixing felt as though he'd been abducted. he told them exactly that.

sehun found it hilarious, sitting up in the chair and laughing at junmyeon. “see, this is why i should go on more rescue missions.”

“you're still a novice, sehun,” joohyun chided, giving sehun a stern look. “respect your leader's decisions.”

“says you-!”

junmyeon sighed. “cut it out, sehun.”

“whatever.” sehun stood abruptly and walked out the door, making a show of slamming the door.

“is-” yixing started.

“he's still sensitive about his capabilities,” junmyeon explained, “don't worry about him. what else do you have questions about?”

yixing pried his eyes away the door towards junmyeon and joohyun. “not to be rude but, who _are_ you?”

“friends of zitao’s,” joohyun answered almost immediately. “he's the reason we were able to find you.”

“speaking of which, _why_ did you want to find me?”

junmyeon looked embarrassed as he bashfully said, “your powers are very intriguing-”

“excuse me?”

yixing stood, furious. was this not the reason the i.e.d. wanted to find him, too? what was yixing to people?

he felt sick. was yixing even safe? they could have lied about luhan, using someone yixing trusted as leverage. he didn’t know these people, and their idea of ‘saving’ someone was more similar to that of a kidnapping. yixing probably wasn’t safe at all.

“yixing, listen-” junmyeon stood, his hands out, but yixing was already heading to the door. yixing reached for the handle-

_what?_

the door handle, the door itself, vanished. all there was was a beige wall, as if the door was never there at all. yixing hit the wall frantically, hoping that it would magically make the door return, but it was to no avail. he then turned back to junmyeon and joohyun, who were both looking at him with concerned expressions.

“what did you do?” yixing asked, eyeing them both suspiciously. he partially angry, partially afraid. what kind of power made things disappear before yixing's eyes?

joohyun approached yixing slowly, her hands held up in surrender. “listen to me, yixing. i know you're afraid, i know you don't trust us, but you're going to have to take a leap of faith. zitao _is_ our friend, he wanted you to be safe here.”

after hearing joohyun speak, yixing felt some of the tension in his shoulders relax, but he was still on edge. “why?”

“because you're a vial of untapped potential,” junmyeon explained. “the healer gene is rare and a mystery at best. no one knows about people like you. we wanted to help you figure out your powers.”

“i appreciate that,” yixing said slowly, his peripheral vision catching to glint of the doorknob reappearing. “but i’ve got my powers figured out.”

before he even finished the sentence, yixing's hand was on the doorknob and he yanked the door open. swiftly, he turned on his heel, only to be met with a blinding light in his eyes and a hand colliding with his face. stumbling backward, yixing groaned, his eyes tightly shut.

“you _have_ to stop doing that!” yixing heard junmyeon say.

a familiar voice shot back, “he scared me!”

after blinking multiple times, yixing’s vision cleared. joohyun was looking at him rather afraid, her hand on his shoulder. yixing gently shook her off. in front of him, junmyeon was rubbing his forehead and looking at a man with-

_wait._

yixing knew this man.

“concussion,” yixing said, stepping forward. junmyeon looked up cautiously, glancing between yixing and the man.

the man looked at yixing, and it clicked.

“baekhyun.”

baekhyun’s expression changed from curious to realization. “you’re the nurse! jun, you didn’t tell me he was the healer!” he then slapped yixing’s shoulder. “dude, this is crazy.”

“no kidding,” yixing muttered. how did baekhyun tie into this?

after yixing prompted, junmyeon explained that baekhyun really did get a concussion that night before. baekhyun laughed and said, "told you i have a lot of roommates."

because zitao was worried about yixing and his powers, he called junmyeon, and junmyeon deemed baekhyun’s injury the perfect way to check out yixing’s powers. xiumin was there to see exactly what made yifan wary of yixing, and baekhyun was there because he truly was injured.

“you saved my life!” baekhyun told yixing, and yixing told baekhyun painkillers were hardly considered a life-saving remedy.

“i still don’t understand,” yixing said after junmyeon finished explaining everything. “how did that one experience tell you i was inhuman?”

“i thought that too,” joohyun said as they all sat down. junmyeon and joohyun sat in the armchairs while baekhyun sat next to yixing on the bed. “that’s what junmyeon meant when he said you’re untapped potential. when baekhyun and xiumin returned here, junmyeon checked baekhyun out. there weren’t any more signs of a concussion anymore.”

joohyun’s statement confused yixing. he didn’t use his abilities on baekhyun, he was sure of it.

“i know what you’re thinking. it’s nonsense, right?” junmyeon asked. “that’s what makes you so interesting. your abilities are going to work without you even thinking about it. when you touch someone, your healing powers transfer over to them without you even knowing.”

yixing remembered that night in triage when he asked baekhyun to stand, when baekhyun almost fell and yixing caught him.

“so, that night…” yixing failed to find the words, but baekhyun was already smiling.

“what? you think i fell on accident?”

junmyeon sighed. "you likely did, baekhyun."

yixing laughed out loud at the sheer ridiculousness of the situation. he was sitting in a room alone with people he didn’t know or trust, the i.e.d. wanted him dead or alive, apparently, and now he’s some sort of super inhuman? this didn’t add up. yixing was _normal,_ or at least as normal as he could be.

“i can’t believe this,” yixing said, shoving his head into his hands.

junmyeon held something out in front of yixing. “can’t hear it from us? here, call zitao.”

yixing looked up. in junmyeon’s hand was yixing’s phone, which yixing took graciously.

“we’ll give you some space,” joohyun said, ushering the boys out until yixing was left alone.

hesitantly, yixing searched zitao's number and watched his thumb hover over the call button. did he really want the truth? could yixing live in a lie for a moment longer? he didn’t want this. he wanted to save lives, change the world, and pretend he wasn’t constantly being hunted. yixing didn’t want the truth.

and yet, yixing found himself holding the phone up to his ear. the monotonous dialing rang in yixing’s ear for a few seconds before he heard zitao shaky, “y-yixing?”

yixing immediately flinched at how broken yifan sounded.

“zitao, are you okay?”

a broken laugh echoed across the receiver. “i should be asking you that.”

in the distance, yixing could hear sirens, which wasn’t uncommon for their line of work. but then he heard someone yelling, the sound of a helicopter, and crying.

“have you talked to junmyeon?” zitao asked, his voice covering the background noise. “did he explain everything?”

“yes, i don't know, but tao,” yixing answered. “where are you? is everything alright?”

somewhere on zitao’s side a voice called for him. yixing heard two words: “injured” and “attack”. his mind went into panic. without thinking, yixing jumped off the bed and paced around the room.

“tao, answer me. what's going on?”

“i-i can't right now. things aren't going well.” yixing heard the tell tale signs of zitao’s tears coming.

“where are you?”

“yixing… i have to.. i’ve gotta go.”

the line went dead, and yixing groaned in frustration. going to his internet application, yixing searched “sooman healthcare center”.

to yixing’s devastation, the first thing on the screen, in big bold lettering, was:

**breaking: sooman healthcare center victim to the second e.r. attack this year…**

_https://cje &mnews.com/breaking/hospitals-attack... _

panicked, yixing clicked on the link that led him to a news report.

the scene on the screen was similar to that of one yixing saw two weeks ago. emergency vehicles surrounded the sooman healthcare, blue and red lights flashing. patients, staff, and first responders were all littered outside. a male newscaster in the corner of the screen narrated:

_“yesterday afternoon, sooman healthcare center became the second hospital attacked in one month. security cameras were not able to confirm how many intruders were on site, but witness testimony can lead officials to believe that three to four men were all in the hospital at one time. one man was apprehended and will go to trial-”_

the screen changed to a clip of the man that yixing spoke to in the bar in handcuffs, being escorted into a police vehicle. the camera zoomed in on him and sharpened to show the man smiling maniacally. he looked genuinely insane.

_“-but there is no other news on his arrest. in other news about the event, three patients and three staff members have been reportedly missing since the attack. patients krystal jung, lee hyukjae, im yoona, and emergency staff lu han, kim jonghyun, and zhang yixing. if you have any information of the whereabouts of any of these individuals, please contact your local police force immediately. now, ms. jung eunji at the scene-”_

for the second time that day, yixing felt nauseous. he dropped his phone as the report still played.

luhan was gone. i.e.d. took him just like they took the rest, and yixing wasn't there to protect him. no wondering zitao was about to cry. yixing felt the same pain.

yixing leaned against the wall closest to the windows, sliding down until his knees curled into his chest and his head rested on his knees. his eyes focused on a spot on the hardwood floor that became too blurry seconds later.

before yixing knew it, he could hear faint voices right outside the door.

"does he know?"

"i think so."

“should we check on him?”

“no. he needs some space.”

“you guys don't know yixing at all.”

the door quietly creaked open, but yixing didn't acknowledge it. he just stared at the floor as hot tears slid down his cheeks.

“hey.”

seulgi sat down right beside yixing, pulling her knees up to mimic him.

“i know you don't like to talk much when you're upset, but you can… i don't know. i’m just here for you,” seulgi said quietly.

yixing cocked his head to the side, resting his head on her shoulder.

“is luhan inhuman?”

“yes.”

“jonghyun? yifan? zitao?”

“yeah.”

“...you?”

seulgi sighed. “sometimes i wish i wasn’t.”

yixing left her statement at that.

“tell me about this place,” he prompted instead.

seulgi must have been shocked yixing hadn’t asked about her powers, because she paused for a minute before speaking.

“it's an old police station that was abandon a long time ago. the government wanted to turn it into a school, but it's in a bad neighborhood. i started living here around two years ago, when i started working as a schedule manager at… yeah, everyone's really nice, and inhuman. there's eight other guys and three girls living here,” seulgi explained. she paused.

“you met joohyun. her ability is illusion manipulation, and it's _scary._ she can make your mind see things that aren't there. honestly, she's kind of frightening with that much power, but joohyun’s a big sweetheart. junmyeon is her teacher. they're both learning about medicine. most of the guys here have elemental powers, and junmyeon isn't an exception. he controls water, and baekhyun controls light, but i think the glowing smack in the head gave that away.

“the others are kind as well, but i’ll let you meet them,” seulgi took a shaky breath. “i’m really sorry, yixing.”

the thing was, yixing didn't need an ‘i’m sorry’, he needed peace of mind. he needed to know luhan wasn't dead. he needed none of this to be happening to him.

“i should go,” yixing muttered, stretching his legs out and using the wall to help him stand. seulgi jumped beside him.

“yixing, you can’t- shouldn’t- leave,” she warned.

yixing pulled away, his head becoming dizzy. “why can't i?” yixing murmured.

“because, it’s not safe! you should know better than anyone, right now,” seulgi pleaded, her hands wrapped around yixing’s arm. “you almost _died,_ yixing.”

“a tranquilizer doesn’t kill someone.”

“yeah, but the i.e.d. does. you don't what you looked like when jongin and 'soo got you here.”

yixing took a deep breath and looked over at seulgi. her big brown eyes were sad, her mouth drooped down. she looked like a sad puppy.

“do you think luhan is even alive?” yixing asked, his voice no louder than that of a whisper.

seulgi didn’t answer immediately, studying yixing’s face. “i think there’s the possibility,” she said carefully. “but you’ll never find him alone.”

yixing opened his mouth to answer, but never got the words out. he stared at seulgi, mouth agape, and before he realized, tears were streaming down his cheeks.

seulgi let go of his arm and yixing slid back down to the floor. he couldn’t believe this, any of this. yixing wanted to be normal, he wanted to save lives. now, what was he? an enemy of the country, too? luhan was gone, jonghyun was gone, yixing likely would never see his family or friends ever again. with the exception of seulgi, yixing was alone. he didn’t trust junmyeon or baekhyun or joohyun, as much as he did trust seulgi.

yixing felt hopeless. screwed over. broken.

junmyeon and baekhyun came back in later to find yixing and seulgi curled up together on the floor, seulgi’s head resting on yixing’s shoulder and his head on top of hers.

 

✆

 

when yixing woke again, the sun was absent and moonlight filtered through the windows. seulgi was gone and yixing still leaned against wall.

yixing deemed that this time, in the cover of night, was a good time to find somewhere else to go. he’d spent far too much time sleeping in this room.

quietly cracking the door open, yixing peered down what he noted was a long hall. there were several closed doors to the right. he crept silently into the hall, looking to his left. the hall took a turn to the right, and yixing found it more reliable than the dead end at the other side.

the building looked desolate when yixing made it to a stairwell. he tentatively put pressure on one step and heard a quiet creaking, he jumped back and looked around quickly. there was no other sounds or movement, yixing blamed his nerves for making him so jumpy.

as silently as he could, yixing crept down the stairs and landed on another level. he found himself in a cafeteria-like room, spacious with large round tables and chairs littered around. another door led into the kitchens, equipped with large ovens, sinks, and fridges, and a storage closet, full of brooms and chairs. yixing walked into the lower level hall, looking for another exit. he didn't see anything in regards to escape, of he could even call it that.

he discovered a room full of monitors, which he did find intriguing.

yixing shut the door to the room, looking around the small area once before peering at the glowing screens. they showed hallways, rooms, the cafeteria, and dozens of other places, flickering across the screens as quickly as they came. security camera, everywhere in the building, it seemed. yixing was impressed at the security, to say the least, but how was it powered?

he studied the cameras, trying to get an understanding of the place. yixing recalled seulgi telling him that the building was a shut down police station, almost converted into a school but never was. the building in and of itself was two floors, the top being what yixing assumed were now dormitories, similar to the one yixing had been in previously, and the ground level full of classrooms and the cafeteria. if he was correct, the front exit would be past this room, down the hall and to the right- no, left, and then through the office.

yixing smiled to himself, a bit smug at how he figured it out. he turned to the door, repeating the directions in his head, and reached for the handle. he stopped, turning back towards the monitors. something felt _wrong._ yixing couldn’t place it, but he walked the perimeter of the room just for good measure then placed his hand on the doorknob again. he heard the click of the door opening, and-

yixing froze. he barely heard it, but he was sure it was there. a exhalation of air, enough to be just louder than a hushed sigh but nothing more.

someone was in here, with him, watching him where yixing couldn't see.

_someone was in here._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> who is in the room with yixing? make your hypothesis now!
> 
> love you all so much and hope you all still like the story so far! as always, comments and kudos are appreciated!


	6. v. oh, joy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “they take what makes you good and destroy it.”
> 
> “you sound like you speak from experience.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi loves! here's a day-before-valentines-day post. i loved writing this chapter and i hope you guys like it as much as i do <3
> 
> alllsooo, thanks for all the love! these kudos, comments, and hits just keep rising! thank you all so much and i'm so happy you all have accepted my story. i realize my writing isn't always the best and chapters may be shorter than you all would like, but i appreciate all the support you guys have given me. it means the world to me! thank you <3

there was no doubt about it. yixing was not the only person in this room. he wasn't sure how long he had been watched or where the hidden person was, but yixing was positive that he was not alone.

yixing turned on his heel, facing the monitors that illuminated the room. he backed up until his back hit the door.

“is there someone in here?” yixing demanded. he looked around. there wasn’t anything different about the room. he must be imagining things. it was likely his own imagin-

the leather computer chair moved slightly, the _creak_ that emitted from it sounding awfully eerie. no. there wasn’t any way he was hallucinating or something. there was someone in this room.

the screen monitors darkened, attracting yixing’s attention. on every monitor was an image of himself, very blurry but still visible, clad in scrubs and looking very disheveled. this was video footage of himself, right now. someone had to have changed the camera manually from this room. yixing tentatively stepped towards the computers, all the versions of him on the screen mimicking his movements.

looking around the computers, yixing saw nothing. he checked under the computer desk, behind a inconspicuous looking file cabinet, but still, no one.

“whoever you are, wherever you’re hiding,” yixing muttered, turning around to peer around the room again. “i don’t want trouble.”

_“yeah? then why are you creeping around in the middle of the night?”_ whispered back a female voice, smooth and confident.

before yixing’s eyes appeared a girl standing in front of him. she had long, black hair, fair skin, calculating eyes, and a _very_ mischievous smile. her clothing consisted of a dark colored hoodie that read _‘bad boy'_ and a pair of jeans.

“boo?” she said, a lilt apparent in her voice.

yixing snapped out of his amazement, looking at the girl with extreme befuddlement. “y-you were... invisible? who are you?”

“last i checked i was,” the girl said with a laugh, holding her hand out in front of her face. it vanished and yixing could see her pout through her transparent hand. “and really, do i not get enough news coverage anymore? i thought people knew about me.”

yixing racked his brain. he generally avoided the news and media, but occasionally, when he worked the front desk at sooman yixing would find himself watching e & m news in the waiting room. normally there was the weather, sports, and other daily things, but sometimes, rarely, breaking news would appear. it was always a number of things: natural disasters, armed robberies, but the most interesting was inhuman outlaws. yixing knew a few names, but he hardly remembered them.

he studied the girl intently, straining his eyes to see her with the pale light of the computer monitors. on the broad spectrum, men were normally on the chase more than women, so yixing wasn’t familiar with their names.

yixing remembered one. her appearance in the media began in two-thousand fifteen, but had long since been absent in the news. the last yixing knew, her hair was bright yellow, then bright red, but he knew that a criminal could change their hair color and still be on the run. eventually, the girl went missing, and news on her stopped.

he knew a name, but he hesitated. why would someone like that woman be in a place like here? would luhan be associated with a killer?

“joy?” he asked, looking at her in disbelief. yixing thought that she’d been caught by i.e.d. or worse. “the one who, um… killed a man?”

“ _oh my god,_ i didn’t kill him!” joy snapped, crossing her arms and looking away. “it was sehun’s fault, he was the rookie that didn’t know how to control his powers.”

joy looked back at yixing. “but that’s not important, you are. what are you doing out this late at night?”

“shouldn’t i be asking you the same thing?” yixing countered. he saw her raise her eyebrows.

joy laughed, a melodic sound. “unlike you, i have a job,” she explained, gesturing to the monitors. “it’s called security.”

“so, what? you watched me come all the way here?” yixing asked, not wanting to think about how he was being watched.

joy nodded. “all the way to the door. it was quite frustrating watching you wander, though,” she complained. “you kept going all the wrong ways. i wanted to scream. but then you got here, and it was so very fun to toy with you.”

she leaned forward, grinning. “i scared you, right? with the whole making you appear on the screens thing, yeah? you looked terrified.”

yixing watched joy approach him, her fingers gingerly touching the fabric of his scrubs. she watched him keenly, a half smile evident on her lips.

“you’re very cute when you’re scared, yixing,” joy said, looking up at yixing earnestly. “but you should know you smell bad.”

yixing glanced down at his clothes. he hadn’t though much about wearing them, seemingly oblivious to the smell.

“how long have i been wearing them?” yixing honestly had not the slightest idea of how long he had been asleep in the place. his mind had defaulted to a day, but if he smelt… it must've meant he had been wearing his scrubs far too long.

joy tapped her lips. “kyungsoo and jongin found you on what? saturday? and then you woke up yesterday which was wednesday…”

“five days?!”

“give or take.”

yixing felt his jaw literally drop. five days? what the _hell_ was in that tranquilizer?

“yeah, but jun has been running a bunch of tests and stuff to make sure you weren't dead or dying, and he says you're fine,” joy said, waving her hand nonchalantly. “you should ask him about it- that is, if you’re here in the morning.”

yixing looked towards the door, not wanting to meet joy in the eye.

“that was your plan, no? to leave during the night? junmyeon figured you’d try to leave after we all went to bed. he asked me to convince you to stay,” _sigh,_ “but i don’t think i will.”

his gaze turned to joy, full of surprise. everyone so far had be adamant that yixing stayed. “why?”

joy shrugged. “i think it’s your choice. if you stay, sure, we’d love to have you. you’re a valuable team member and junmyeon would love to learn from you. but if i- or anyone, force you to stay, aren’t we just as bad as i.e.d.?”

yixing pondered the thought as joy walked back over to the computer chair neatly tucked under the desk.

“junmyeon and joohyun left a bag of supplies at the door. there’s a letter in there urging you to remain here, but you can ignore it if you’d like,” joy said, turning away from yixing and fiddling with something on the desk. “i hope you find lu and the answers you want.”

joy turned in the chair. “most importantly, i hope i.e.d. doesn’t find you. they’ll use you to hurt others. they take what makes you good and destroy it.”

“you sound like you speak from experience.”

she smiled bitterly. before yixing could ask, joy held out her hand, prompting yixing to do the same. yixing held out his hand and joy dropped a tiny, dark colored object in his hand. he held it close to his face, examining the now recognizable pill.

“i.e.d. wants you, badly. i mean, when you took off, they tried to kill you rather than let anyone else aid you. you’re special. do _not_ let them have you. if you’re on the run and there’s no way out, take this.”

“a pill?”

“a _poison_ pill.”

“why do you have this?”

“emergencies.”

“what will it do?”

“what do you think?” joy had her eyebrows raised.

so, this was yixing’s life? on the run, ready to kill himself at any given moment. he felt sick.

"is joy your real name?" yixing asked instead, finding the curiosity in him. it was strange, but yixing felt like knowing.

joy shook her head. "it's not, but joy rolls of the tongue more, no?" 

joy spun back to the computers, ignoring yixing. “go now, before junmyeon wakes up and finds you missing. remember, pass this room, go down the hall, turn into the first right and go through the office, and you’re free- but you already knew that.”

feeling a bit guilty, yixing turned to the door. he opened to mouth to say a farewell, but left the room without another word and started down the hall. yixing questioned his judgement, convincing himself leaving was the best idea.

someone needs to find luhan. yixing turned right and saw the front office coming into view. he would put everyone here at risk if he stayed. the front door was visible through the glass of the office windows.

yixing pushed open the front door, feeling a cool breeze blow across his face. he had no idea where he was, and it was supposedly a bad area, but oddly, it didn’t bother him. it was a start. he could possibly do this, he could find luhan and jonghyun, and he could stay hidden. it was a stretch, but it was a start. yixing looked to his left and saw a black backpack leaned against the brick exterior. opening it up, he found food, water, clothing, blankets, and money all tucked systematically inside. on the top of the supplies was a folded cream colored piece of paper that yixing knew was junmyeon’s letter. folding it in half again, yixing tucked it into his pocket and zipped the backpack.

he stood and slung the bag over his shoulder. looking up at the sky, yixing saw the sun was slowly rising in the distance, meaning morning was coming soon. he should go.

school-police station opened out into a main courtyard with many wilting plants. there were a few large trees that yixing figured provided wonderful shade in the summertime.

the news report on sooman that yixing watched still pulled at the back of his mind. now that he knew his friends were inhuman, he realized the patients and staff were all inhumans captured by the i.e.d., but that also tugged at him. if the i.e.d. knew these people were inhuman, then why weren’t they just arresting them for their crimes? the i.e.d. staging active shooter situations was likely not- or should not be sponsored by the government. yixing thought about the man in the bar, how composed and controlled he was, and how he looked on the news. the man was seemed unhinged in a sort of way.

another thing that pulled at yixing incessantly was the fact that he was in that news report. yes, he was scheduled to work, but he never checked in. the time clock should have implied that. someone would’ve seen him. why was he labeled as one of the missing?

none of it made sense to yixing. then again, what in his life made sense anymore? he was a runaway, unable to live his life in piece anymore. 

"hey! where do you think you're going?!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the next chapter is very much a longer and informational chapter and it took me about a week and a half to write. now i have the suicide prevention hotline coming up in my ads and i think my school is worried about me ⊂(・﹏・⊂) the things a writer does
> 
> i'm debating posting something ... would you guys like to see a:  
> \- angsty baekxing (one shot)  
> \- fluffy baekxing (one shot)  
> \- exo/got7 as things my chemistry teacher says (ch: ?)  
> \- exo as boyfriends (ch: 9)  
> \- got7 as things my family did on vacations (ch: ?)
> 
> i'd love to post was you guys want to see!


	7. vi. shedding light

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “you think it’s easy to be a runaway? i can assure you, it’s not.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey, guys. i just want to thank all of you real quick. the amount of recognition this story has gotten has already exceeded every expectation i had. i never expected to have such supportive comments, much less 500 hits. this is really a huge deal to me. it means so much to me to have people excited to read my story. thank you, so, so much.
> 
> <3
> 
> also, prepare for a bucketload of information to be launched at you. i did S O M U C H R E S E A R C H to make everything explain itself so far so i really hope it makes sense. if it doesn't, please tell me! i will make it clear in another chapter

“are you crazy?!”

yixing whipped around to see baekhyun in full pajama attire, running towards him. baekhyun looked more panicked than anything, his hands latching onto yixing’s arm. he looked at yixing with worried eyes, glancing at the backpack for a moment before pulling it off yixing’s back. startled, yixing simply watched as baekhyun dug through the pack, muttering things such as  _ “this is my t-shirt” _ and  _ “i can’t believe you’re allowed to have the expensive granola bars and i’m not” _ , along with other comments.

then baekhyun stood, slung the bag across his back, took yixing’s arm, and began pulling him inside. “this won’t work well for you, yixing,” baekhyun said.

“i'm not asking for your permission,” yixing answered, pulling away from baekhyun's iron grip. “i'm leaving.”

“you think it’s easy to be a runaway? i can assure you, it’s not,” baekhyun remarked with a bitter laugh. “stay.”

yixing reached for where the black backpack- his supplies- hung on baekhyun's shoulder. the small instantly recoiled, leaving yixing grasping at air. “baekhyun, give me the bag back,” yixing demanded. “i  _ cannot _ stay. it’s not safe for you guys.”

baekhyun turned back to look at yixing incredulously. “do you think anything about this life is safe? we are all dangers to each other. you won’t survive a day in the city, you know. i.e.d. will find you and kill you. you’re safer here, where we can protect you.”

“baek-”

“i’m not looking for an excuse,” baekhyun said sternly. “you’re staying. c’mon, you should eat. you haven’t since you got here.”

baekhyun's hand found his way yixing's forearm and pulled him back inside. yixing went along with little resistance, for where was he to go without any resources to keep him alive? they passed through the office and a smiling joy, who waved a little and slipped back into the security room.

baekhyun sat yixing and the bag down at one of the tables, telling him to “not run away” and disappearing into the kitchen. yixing glanced over at the black backpack, still zipped and ready to go. if yixing wanted, he could take it and run, all while baekhyun was busy in the kitchen. joy would let him run, that wasn’t an issue. it was still early enough that many people would still be asleep.

yixing reached out for the bag, tensed, then slowly gripped onto it. he pulled it up into his lap, unzipping it and looking at all the supplies. he could do it. run. junmyeon had set yixing up to succeed. he wasn't strong, or very good at hiding, but he could get away. yixing could do what he had to in order to survive, but the thought of running made him sick.

“put that away, yixing,” baekhyun said, setting a bowl of cereal in front of yixing. “i hope you like fruity pebbles, it’s all we’ve got. they're jongdae's favorite.”

yixing put the bag on the floor and pulled the cereal closer. ”thanks,” he said before digging in.

he felt a bit guilty as practically inhaled the cereal, stopping only a few times to look a baekhyun, who was oddly silent.

“do you not want to eat?” yixing asked, looking b ack at the kitchen.

baekhyun shook his head. “eating this early in the morning makes me feel sick.”

“oh.”

they sat in silence for a moment, yixing finishing the last of his cereal. baekhyun attempted to flatten his bed head, running his fingers through his hair and pushing it back. yixing heard movement upstairs and deemed people would be waking soon.

“can i ask you a question?” yixing pushed his bowl away, crossing his arms and leaning on the table.

baekhyun raised his eyebrows. “fire away.”

“what happened to me, exactly?”

baekhyun thought on it for a moment before responding. “junmyeon and joohyun know better than i do,” he said, glancing at yixing, “but i know that it was pretty serious.”

if yixing had been out of commision for five days, it must have serious. that was obvious.

“you might already know this, but the i.e.d. tried to tranquilize you,” baekhyun explained, and yixing nodded. “they tried to do the same to me, too… but i don’t know, maybe they got their stuff mixed up, because i guess they ended up poisoning you? i really don’t know about much of it, but it was scary. you looked like you were possessed. you were flinging around everywhere and then your face turned an awful shade of purple before junmyeon got you still.”

yixing nodded again, finding interest in the way his fingers laced together. “and you don’t know what they poisoned me with?”

baekhyun shook his head, also staring at yixing’s hands. his gaze shifted up to look at baekhyun’s face. the boy’s hair was still ruffled and messy, his eyes still tired, and his pajamas very wrinkly. he looked too weary for someone who was so young. 

“if you were really that curious, you could have asked,” a female voice said. yixing looked away from baekhyun and saw joohyun walking towards their table. she, unlike baekhyun, wore a pair of jeans and a sweater, her hair combed and styled into a ponytail.

joohyun’s eyes shifted to the bag then back to yixing, a smile forming. “i’m glad you chose to stay, for the time being.”

“you should be thanking baekhyun,” yixing replied, nodding in baekhyun’s direction. out of the corner of yixing’s eye, he could see baekhyun’s bright smile towards joohyun.

sitting at the table, yixing looked at joohyun as she said, “it was cyanide. in the dart, that is.”

seeing yixing’s confused expression, joohyun went on to explain how normal tranquilizer darts were laced with a cyclohexylamine, such as ketamine. often times, they were paired with an benzodiazepine sedative like midazolam or diazepam. this would give off the usual side effects, such as drowsiness, elimination of anxiety or fear, and most importantly, unconsciousness. what happened in yixing’s case, though, was that the dart was laced with a cyclohexylamine, benzodiazepine, and cyanide.

the three fused together in an awful way. using the tranquilizer sedative would slow yixing down, making him lethargic and confused. by doing this, the cyanide would have a better chance of infiltrating yixing's bloodstream.

joohyun told yixing he was lucky he was so healthy, because in normal cyanide poisonings, the average human would start feeling the effects in forty-five seconds or less. yixing lasted a few minutes before convulsions began. joohyun hypothesized that it was his healing abilities enhancing his immune system to help fight off the cyanide. according to joohyun, the cyanide hadn't infiltrated yixing’s system enough to do much real damage, but junmyeon theorized that if yixing were to wake suddenly, the effects of the cyanide would reawaken and possibly kill him.

yixing questioned this theory, but didn’t say anything on the subject. he should be lucky his life was saved at all. after asking how they managed to get the cyanide out of his system, joohyun explained that there were different antidotes they tried: an inhaled dose of amyl nitrite, an intravenous dose of sodium nitrite, and an intravenous dose of sodium thiosulfate. 

when both the inhaled dose and the sodium nitrate failed, the sodium thiosulfate had come through. junmyeon and joohyun were able to get yixing into a stable condition, but due to junmyeon’s hypothesis, he kept yixing medically comatose until he could confirm that there wasn't any cyanide left in yixing’s body or bloodstream.

“junmyeon would be proud at how many smart medicine words you know,” baekhyun praised, leaning against yixing. yixing then realized just how cold he was when baekhyun’s warmth pressed beside him.

joohyun blushed. “i’ve been doing a little more studying, that's all.”

“that’s another question i have,” yixing said. “how are you and junmyeon able to study medicine, if all of you are wanted criminals? how do you hide from the government?”

baekhyun laughed, pulling off yixing’s shoulder. “who told you that?”

“seulgi and junmyeon are both unknown to the government,” joohyun explained. “junmyeon works at a twenty-four clinic about fifteen minutes away, and seulgi, of course, worked with you. with the income they both bring in, we’re able to buy food, supplies, and occasionally, other luxuries.

“we keep the place running by using our powers. baekhyun keeps the lights on, chanyeol’s our personal furnace, everyone with natural powers keeps up with maintenance. people similar to myself, with supernatural powers, keep us hidden from the public eye. joy, as you saw, is our security guard, i help the place look deserted to ward off any curious civilians, and wendy… she does her own thing, really.”

“what do you mean by ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’ powers?” yixing asked.

“didn’t someone teach you where your powers come from?” baekhyun questioned back. “the realms determine your powers.”

as if that helped. yixing was clueless.

“realms?”

“hold on.” baekhyun jumped up from the table and ran into the kitchen, reemerging with a pencil and paper.

he drew a dot, then three big circles around it. “this is every inhuman,” baekhyun said, pointing the tip of the pencil to the dot.

“the first ring is called the physical realm,” baekhyun told yixing. “it’s the only realm that can be considered natural. this would be powers like earth, water, fire, air, or light…”

baekhyun referenced the second ring. “this represents the next realm: psychic. first tier in supernatural. people like joohyun and joy belong here. these types of powers interfere with the mind rather than the body, like joohyun’s illusion manipulation.”

“that was horrifying,” yixing said with a laugh, pointing at joohyun.

she gave a guilty smile. “i’ve heard that once or twice.”

yixing pointed to the third ring. “and this one?”

both baekhyun and joohyun hesitated.

“healing might be the only power you could classify there…” joohyun said to herself before addressing yixing’s question. “it’s the spiritual realm, second and last supernatural realm. it deals heavily with life and death, but no powers really come from it. necromancy is really the only ability that could fit there, but for the most part, powers are from physical and psychic realms. healing could maybe fit there, since you could save someone’s life from death, but i think it’s a stretch. your powers are more physical, more natural.”

yixing looked at baekhyun’s drawing, feeling a little unsettled by the idea of a spiritual realm.

life and death? necromancy?

what the hell did that mean?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my, my... how excited i am to delve into the world of powers! i've chosen red velvet's powers and i am so hyped to reveal them all one by one! ^o^
> 
> also, fun news! i was sorting through my archive of stories and found old stories that i think with some tlc i can recycle into some one shots!
> 
> there is a bunch of angst and fluff that i think will do nicely for some short kpop stories and i'm very excited ^-^


	8. vii. my name is...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “he has a right to know!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi guys, long time no see. i want to make it clear right now that i am very, very stressed out right now with school and choir so i'm not sure when i'll be able to post on this story or any of my other writing projects. these stories really mean a lot to me and i love writing for you guys, but with all the tests and projects coming up, these have to go on the back burner for now. i really hope i can tackle all my schoolwork and get back to writing, but for now i don't see that happening. sorry guys.
> 
> in light of this, enjoy the chapter ><

“there’s towels in the closet and soaps in the shower, but i’m sure all that is in here somewhere,” baekhyun said, handing over yixing's backpack. per yixing's request to shower, the younger had lead yixing back upstairs, towards what baekhyun had told him was the dormitories. while they walked down the hall, baekhyun had loudly listed the names of every person’s room, which yixing already forgot. they stopped at the bathroom. “feel free to use anything in there.”

yixing thanked him sincerely but baekhyun replied with a nonchalant, “it’s what we do, xing” and a wink.

the shower yixing took was short, very unlike his normal routine. on any regular morning, yixing would spend as much time as he could waking up himself up in a hot shower. the circumstances were extremely different now. yixing felt uncomfortable and vulnerable, and as much as these friends of zitao’s have proved they care, yixing still felt that he was at their mercy.

yixing dug through the backpack and pulled out a dark grey sweatshirt that looked comfortable enough, and a pair of jeans that he hoped were his size- they were a bit long, oddly enough. after he got dressed, yixing located a toothbrush and some toothpaste, brushed his teeth, and washed his hands and face. taking a deep breath, yixing studied himself in the mirror.

for sleeping for five days, the bags under yixing’s eyes still were noticeable. had they always been there? exhaustion was apparent on his face.

a knock on the door pulled yixing from his thoughts.

“jongdae, i swear to god, if you’ve locked yourself in the bathroom again,” a voice yixing recognized snapped, “i’m going to kill you!”

nervously, yixing collected 'his' things and opened the door. he saw a very surprised looking xiumin, clad in dark green plaid pajama pants and black muscle shirt, standing in front of him.

“yixing?”

yixing was just as surprised. “xiumin?”

“please, it’s minseok!”  xiumin- or, minseok exclaimed, pulling yixing into a tight embrace. “it’s so good to see you up and moving, brother! you really scared us there.”

taking a step back, yixing saw minseok’s joyful expression. he looked nothing like the man that yixing saw watching over baekhyun in sooman’s triage room. minseok, with his ruffled black hair and happy smile, was a somewhat grounding sight for yixing. that this whole thing wasn't a hallucination from yixing's over-worked and sleep deprived mind. part of yixing wished it was. that maybe he'd snap back to reality asleep on his couch, away from this nonsense.

“you guys are telling me that,” yixing said with a half hearted laugh. “i was terrified.”

minseok gave yixing a pat on the shoulder and ensured he was safe now, something yixing had heard way too much in the past two days. the shorter man then excused himself to the shower, which lead yixing to awkwardly slipping out of the bathroom and giving a small wave as minseok closed the door. yixing looked down the hall, unsure of which room was his.

water droplets from yixing’s wet hair dripped down his forehead and he hastily wiped them away as he tried to remember which room he came from last night. he wandered down hall a bit more before studying the doors. none of these seemed like the one yixing had been in, but at the same time, almost every door looked the same.

a door opened behind yixing and he turned around. he saw a man walk out, dressed in dark apparel that contrasted greatly to his swooping bleach blonde hair. his expression was hard, calculating, but when his eyes landed on yixing, it changed to a bright smile. he approached yixing quickly.

“you’re yixing, correct? the one we rescued?” the man asked, holding out his hand to shake.

yixing took it slowly. “yeah. you are?”

“jongin.” yixing recognized the name, but not sure where. did he treat a jongin in the e.r.? maybe one of his coworkers knew someone with that name?

“how do you feel?” jongin asked, looking at yixing with something that resembled guilt.

yixing shook his arms a little, peering down at his body. “i feel like i’m not dying, so that’s good.”

jongin put a hand on his chest and laughed, looking at yixing happily.

“that’s definitely a relief,” jongin said with a sigh, that same expression of remorse returning. “you looked deathly sick and i thought it was all my fault.”

“why would you think that?”

jongin raised his eyebrows. “i was the one that grabbed you in the alley.”

 

_he had heard the rustle of a footsteps behind him, and yixing had panicked. was it another i.e.d.?_

_yixing hadn't thought about for too long, however, for a hand latched onto his arm, tugging him back before yixing could have even yell for help. the hand had quickly snaked around yixing’s waist and had effectively pinned his arms to his sides, all while another hand smothered yixing’s mouth as he tried to scream._

_then he had been pulled into the darkness and he had finally come to his senses. yixing couldn't feel his lower body, his attention was hazy, but he had known that he had to get away from the i.e.d. he had struggled the best he could against his attacker. he had wiggled and tried to kick his legs, but it was to no avail. the person who was holding him was stronger than yixing._

_“for the love of god, stop moving,” a man's voice had said in yixing’s ear. “if you keep making noise, they'll find us. you and i both know that can’t happen.”_

_yixing had stopped momentarily. the man could be trying to help him, but there was the chance that this man was someone trying to hurt him. and yixing wasn’t intent on dying today._

_so he had started fighting again._

_“shit! jongin, hold him still!”_

_“it's harder than you would imagine, kyungsoo!”_

 

jongin explained the events of that day. after minseok confirmed that yixing had powers, junmyeon instructed that jongin and kyungsoo, a man yixing still didn't know, should go to find yixing, convince him that he should come to their safe house. jongin told yixing that he was also in the bar that morning with i.e.d. approached him. the conversation was too quiet for jongin to tune in to, but when yixing took off, jongin quickly followed.

jongin was able to locate yixing in the alleyways, alerting kyungsoo that yixing would be approaching them. how jongin was able to manage this, he didn't explain.

when yixing was grabbed and he started fighting, the scuffle attracted the attention of one of the i.e.d. officials. kyungsoo had to fight him off.

“sorry for making things so hard for you,” yixing apologized.

jongin waved his hands and shook his head. “no, no! i would've done the same if i were you. kyungsoo and i really could've handled it better.”

yixing recalled that day, how jongin told yixing to stay still and yixing fought. it was embarrassing that yixing couldn't his own against someone so close to his size. maybe as yixing stayed here, he could learn how to defend himself a bit more.

“have you been settling well?” jongin asked.

yixing nodded. “it’s bit weird, being here when i hardly know anyone,” he confessed.

“kyungsoo and chanyeol are in the other room, if you’d like to meet them,” jongin suggested, and yixing nodded again.

jongin led yixing back down the way he came from the bathroom, but stopped and entered a door on his left. yixing heard someone say, _“back with snacks already?”_ and jongin announcing that he had something much more interesting than food.

knowing a cue when he saw one, yixing entered the room and stepped into the bedroom. inside, he saw two men sitting on a small-ish bed with game controllers in hand. the first man was short, with dark brown hair that was closely cropped, wide eyes and lips that portrayed his intrigued expression. he wore a blue sweatshirt one size too large and looked at yixing curiously. the second man attracted more attention than the first, with his messy, cotton candy colored hair and long sweatpant covered legs that curled into his chest.

both seemed very familiar to yixing, but he couldn't place it.

“yixing, meet kyungsoo and chanyeol,” jongin said with a grin. “guys, this is yixing.”

“i think we all know already,” the shorter man said, abandoning his game controller to stand and shake yixing’s hand. “do kyungsoo, pleasure to meet you.”

yixing was a bit surprised by kyungsoo’s appearance, to say the least. he was a small man who didn't look to have much strength on his side. how did he take on an i.e.d.?

before yixing could speak however, the second man, chanyeol, clambered up off the bed. he clapped yixing on the shoulder and introduced himself as chanyeol, flashing yixing a bright smile.

yixing stepped back and studied the men before him. jongin, though he looked intimidating at first, seemed very friendly. kyungsoo was unexpected, to say the least. when jongin told yixing kyungsoo defended them from the i.e.d., yixing figured kyungsoo was tall, strong, and intimidating. what he got was a short man that was hard to read. not expected. chanyeol was a familiar presence to yixing, though he wasn't sure how. yixing was sure that he heard chanyeol’s deep, rumbling voice before, but he had not _seen_ the boy.

“do i know you?” yixing asked, pointing at chanyeol. the latter looked perplexed, shaking his head. “you just seem so… i don't know.”

chanyeol laughed. “me too. i hope you find out, sooner or later.”

 

_“...find out, sooner or later.”_

_yixing had lingered in the hall, listening to the two voices that had been arguing softly._

_“he's going to find out, sooner or later,” one voice had said. “you need to tell him before he gets hurt… or worse.”_

_“i’m not telling him yet, he won't understand!” yixing had known the second man. luhan. what was he talking about?_

_“besides, i’m here to protect him. he's safe at the hospital. don't ask to induct yixing into… whatever it is that you guys have.”_

_yixing’s ears had perked up at the sound of his name. inducted? into what?_

_“get out of here, chanyeol,” luhan had snapped. the name had been familiar to yixing, but he couldn't place where. “i have a job to do, and yixing will be here any moment.”_

_“don't forget this, luhan.” footsteps had sounded, then faded to nothing._

 

_“chanyeol said i was okay,” baekhyun had muttered sleepily, his head slumping into his hand again as he, minseok, and yixing sat in triage._

_“chanyeol?” yixing had gotten to his feet, reaching over to baekhyun and asking him to try and stand as well. “you can do that for me, yeah?”_

_baekhyun had stood, wobbly, and given a bright smile before his knees gave. yixing had been quick to support though, wrapping one arm around baekhyun's waist and the other under his arms. “easy there.”_

_from this close, yixing had taken in baekhyun’s features. soft, downturn lips, a narrow nose, and tired eyes that still shone with lingering fire all had caught yixing's attention._

_yixing had cleared his throat, helping baekhyun sit back down. “who is chanyeol?”_

_“our roommate,’ baekhyun had said, with a chuckle. “we have a lot.”_

 

it felt like an epiphany, even if it did sound dramatic.

“baekhyun told me you're one of his roomates,” yixing recalled. “and i overheard you one day, in the hospital. you argued with... luhan... about me.”

talking about luhan felt like a salt in a very open wound. yixing didn't want to talk about him, think about him, because it all came down to the fact that luhan was likely dead because yixing couldn't save him. because luhan was busy protecting yixing rather than himself.

“i didn't know you overheard…” chanyeol muttered, scratching the back of his neck. “how much did you hear?”

yixing explained that he only caught the end of the conversation, luhan telling chanyeol profusely that yixing could not know… something. kyungsoo shed some light by telling yixing that junmyeon and yifan were certain that yixing was unaware of his powers.

when jongin overheard yixing and the i.e.d. in the bar, it came as a shock to them that yixing knew about his powers, more so that he was actively hiding them.

“you are some guy,” kyungsoo breathed. he turned back to the bed, slowly sitting down and crossing his legs. “how old are you?”

and the conversation sprung from there. yixing learned that he was the oldest out of all of them in the room, chanyeol the closest with a gap of a little over a year. jongin was the third youngest, sehun and joy both the “babies of the family,” as chanyeol put it. yixing found that interesting, seeing as joy seemed so mature and grown up.

other traits yixing learned about the boys were that jongin has a happy, contagious laugh, kyungsoo is passionate about cleaning, and chanyeol insists that people drop formalities with him because he likes to have comfortability with friends. the room they were standing in was kyungsoo’s, but the man simply stated jongin and he almost shared the room with the amount of time the younger spent in there.

“you like my company,” jongin pouted.

kyungsoo nodded, stating, “i also enjoy my room not being ransacked,” to which yixing found quite amusing.

when chanyeol inquired where yixing’s room was, the latter shook his head and explained he wasn’t sure which one was his again. the three laughed slightly, filling yixing with unwanted embarrassment.

“i’ll help you find it,” jongin said as he tugged at yixing’s sleeve. “i have to steal some of jongdae’s kitchen stash, anyway.”

the two left kyungsoo and chanyeol to play more video games, entering the hall.

“they’re nice,” yixing commented.

“everyone here is nice,” jongin said with reassuring smile, “sehun can be a pain when he's moody, but we love him just the same.”

yixing nodded, being able to see sehun as someone with a flare for the dramatic. his show slamming the door yesterday definitely spoke loudly to his character. yixing debated asking about what joy had said last night, about it was sehun that killed a man, not her.

“so,” yixing offers instead, “how did you end up here?”

jongin laughed heartily. he told yixing that he was “drunk off his ass” at a fraternity party when junmyeon located him. though jongin doesn't remember it much, junmyeon scolded jongin for bragging about his abilities to other party goers. after jongin had sobered (and thrown) up, he received an offer from junmyeon to join him at the safe house. at that moment in time jongin hadn't known what to do. he grabbed his things and scurried out of the hotel room junmyeon took him to the night before.

they were stopped in the hallway as jongin told his story animatedly.

“i was terrified! i mean, wouldn't you be if a mysterious came up to you and told you all those things?” jongin half explained, making wild hand gestures as he took a few more steps down the hallway. yixing kept pace. “i called my mom and told her everything, and she was… _really calm._ she told me that i needed to go with junmyeon, because the government was watching our house. she said we couldn't talk to each other anymore… because it wasn't safe. she said a lot of things…”

yixing nodded solemnly, realizing how the dynamic of the conversation was changing. how jongin was tapping into heart wrenching memories.

would yixing ever see his mom and dad again? we're they safe?

“so you've been staying here, how long?”

“a few years,” jongin said with a light smile, but the sadness still lingered behind his eyes. “but it's a nice setup here. i train physically with minseok and junmyeon helps me understand my powers when something irregular happens. jongdae helps, too.”

“i've heard that name a couple times,” yixing noted. “but i haven't actually met the man himself.”

in was then that the two in the hall heard a yell of outrage, followed by a large crash. yixing looked at jongin in panic, only to see the younger pinching the bridge of his nose with annoyance.

“that,” jongin groaned, “would be jongdae. and minseok. going at it,” _sigh,_ “again.”

“they do this often?” yixing offered, hearing faint grunts and thuds from the end of the hall. “do they not get along?”

jongin huffed. “it's not that they don't get along, it's that they get along _too much._ ”

yixing opened his mouth to ask what exactly that meant, but jongin muttered, _“time to meet jongdae,”_ and started down the hall, yixing being quick to follow.

they approached a door three from the end of the hall, where the source of the fighting sounded. jongin quickly opened the bedroom door to a sight like no other.

first of all, the floor was covered in books, pillows, a blanket and a tipped chair. the bed, however, was the more intriguing sight. minseok, now showered and fresh and in clean clothes, was sitting on the bed- or rather, another person. the man beneath minseok was obviously struggling from where he was trapped between minseok and the pillow minseok had smashed against the man's face.

“minseok! what the hell?!” jongin exclaimed, running over to minseok and shoving him over the other body.

jongin flung the pillow off the man and looked at them both accusingly. the man, clad in a blue t-shirt and grey sweatpants, sat up, smiling like an idiot. he had dark, slightly wavy hair, golden skin that almost radiated, and rosy cheeks. he panted as his gaze drifted to where yixing stood in the door. his smile only widened.

“not exactly the best first impression i’ve ever made,” he commented. the man scooted off the bed and approached yixing. “jongdae’s the name.”

there was no handshake, only jongdae patting yixing's cheek softly twice and telling yixing he's "fairly cute" before looking back at minseok. yixing didn't even know how to respond.

“you, kim minseok, epically suck.”

minseok snorted. “you deserved it.”

jongdae winked at minseok and flashed yixing a pout before flopping backwards onto the bed. minseok climbed up off the floor and began picking up items, chucking a stray pillow at jongdae. it effectively smacked the man in the face, and yixing stifled a laugh.

“so, yixing,” jongdae started, tossing the pillow at minseok’s back. “you're from china?”

“yeah, but i really grew up here. how did you know?”

jongdae smiled lightly. “your name gives it away.” he sighs. “i want to travel somewhere. minseok has been everywhere,” jongdae whined, throwing minseok a wistful look. “i wish he’d take me someplace fancy.”

“you've traveled?” yixing asked, surprised, looking over minseok. he was reorganizing books on his small shelf.

“of course,” minseok replied nonchalantly. “i haven’t spent all my life cleaning up after ‘dae. i used to live under the radar for a long time.”

minseok talked about how he lived in various european cities for his college years, staying briefly in arizona and colorado before returning to south korea. he reminisced of his time in berlin the most, saying something about how the city was truly amazing at night.

“why did you come back? to south korea?” yixing questioned.

minseok chuckled lightly. “chanyeol, actually. it’s a long story.”

yixing interpreted the _‘i don’t want to discuss it’_ from minseok’s _‘it’s a long story’_. he left it at that.

“you’ve met chanyeol?” minseok asked and yixing nodded.

“i’m not sure if i’ve met everyone or not,” yixing confessed. “there’s a lot of you guys.”

jongin and jongdae quickly listened the names of everyone listening. if yixing wasn’t messing up any names, that meant he met everyone but wendy.” he remembered joohyun saying wendy ‘does her own thing’.

“where would she be at this time?” jongin questioned, leaning against the wall. “joohyun would know.”

jongdae tapped his chin and then let out a light gasp. “she’s probably in her room trying to share eyes with-” he faltered as minseok cleared his throat- “nevermind.”

yixing looked between the three other men in the room, noticing how jongin was more interested in his shoes than the conversation now, how minseok glared at jongdae briefly before looking at the window, and how jongdae looked extremely guilty as he picked at the loose threads in the bed’s comforter.

“what? what were you going to say?” yixing asked, noting the obvious secret being kept.

jongdae swallowed, glimpsing at minseok and jongin before speaking carefully. “i just think that we should drop it. wendy is really busy all the time so we shouldn’t bother her.”

“convincing,” yixing commented. he stepped towards the doorway and threw a glance at jongin. “jongin, where did you say my room was?”

“i didn’t.” jongin said slowly, looking perplexed.

“that’s okay. can you show me now?” yixing raised his eyebrows.

“sure, i guess.”

they made to leave, and jongdae stood up, almost panicked-looking. “if you want to know more about wendy-”

“‘dae-” minseok started.

“he has a right to know!” jongdae snapped at minseok's warning tone, earning a shocked expression from minseok. “junmyeon will explain everything best. none of us are fit to tell you. i’m sorry.”

yixing nodded. “thank you.”

jongin and yixing walked out into the hall again, jongin looking at yixing apprehensively. yixing failed to notice, though, because his mind was buzzing with questions.

what exactly was ‘wendy’ doing that it was to be kept from yixing? and what did ‘sharing eyes’ mean? why was this a secret to be kept from him?

once again, yixing was thirsty for answers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this chapter didn't come out how i wanted it too and i'm upset because i don't know how to fix that. i've reread and revised and it's frustrating because jongdae's and minseok's scene was supposed to be much more comedic and entertaining.


	9. viii. answers- or are they?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which yixing learns of wendy, hears a friend and a voice of reason, and willingly gets pummeled. it was a strange couple of days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so... here we are. almost two months since a posting and, i'm back. school has been hard lately, and i apologize for not getting this out sooner. with a research paper and presentations and test after test, i couldn't find the time to write and when i could, i couldn't focus. writing this one chapter was a struggle for me- but this is something i am proud to put out. it took me a while to get it here, but i hope you'll read my story!! ⊂(・﹏・⊂)

“what does ‘sharing eyes’ mean?”

two days later yixing finally had the chance to ask junmyeon his questions. it was around seven in the evening, if yixing was correct. everyone else was busy with their own activities, and yixing took the free opportunity.

junmyeon glanced up from his papers that sat on the cafeteria table, his brows furrowed in perplexity. “what?”

“‘sharing eyes’,” yixing repeated, lacing his fingers as he looked at junmyeon questioningly. when the older man didn’t respond, yixing explained. “jongdae said something about ‘wendy’, a girl i have failed to meet still, was likely busy ‘sharing eyes’. what exactly does that mean?”

junmyeon sighed.

“jongdae has never been good at keeping secrets,” he commented dryly. “have you heard of shared vision?”

yixing shook his head as junmyeon leaned back and took a breath.

“shared vision is the inhuman ability to see an individual's past or present sight,” junmyeon explained. “it goes by a few names, but namely shared vision. the inhuman is able to utilize it on any person, inhuman or not, as long as the two create a bond between them.”

yixing supposed it made sense, but he didn’t like the concept of it. shared vision, a way another person could pick into yixing’s sight and see what they wanted.

“what happens to the person they're seeing through?”

“nothing. they haven’t the slightest idea it’s happening.” junmyeon shuffled through his stack of papers again.

when yixing asked about wendy more, junmyeon shut down. he stopped answering yixing’s questions, claiming it was neither his nor yixing’s business what wendy was doing. it was obvious they were keeping something from him.

if they wouldn’t tell yixing, he’d find out himself.

 

✆

 

baekhyun and sehun spent the most time with yixing out of anyone.

they often answered the questions yixing had about powers and about their pasts- or really, sehun's past. baekhyun tended to avoid conversation about his family or upbringing, which made yixing all the more curious. 

“a lot of us have seen some serious stuff,” sehun answered when yixing asked about baekhyun. “no many people like to remember life before this safe house.”

“do you?”

“do i what?” sehun raised his eyebrows quizzically.

“do you not like to think about your past?” yixing supplied, immediately regretting it after sehun sighed.

he pondered the question for a moment before answering. “sometimes, a lot of times, i miss my family and life. but i'm also glad i’m here and safe. i really was a danger to my family.”

“who did you inherit your powers from?” yixing asked, recalling when sehun told him his ability was to control the winds.

“my dad’s side. the gene skipped or a generation or something, because my parents didn't even notice i had powers,” sehun said with a chuckle.

yixing found that interesting. when he asked if sehun was the one to discover his own powers, yixing heard a name he was dying to more about.

“it was wendy, actually. she already had her powers by then and showed me,” sehun explained.

this time, when yixing asked about wendy, he didn't get shut out. sehun held nothing back. he and wendy, or son seungwan, her real name, went to grade school together and even continued being friends when they split ways for college.

in his sophomore year of college, sehun got in with the wrong crowd and began getting in fights regularly. he was one of the weakest of his group and often was the punching bag for those older and stronger than him. seungwan urged sehun to stop and get out of that mess.

“i think it was my second semester when i threw- or i guess, blew- my hyung into a wall,” sehun recalled. “i was high and terrified and ran. i called seungwan at ass o’clock and ended up at her apartment. she told me everything.”

“how long had she known?”

“since eleventh grade.”

yixing wished he had someone who had understood what he had been feeling throughout his younger years. he envied the fact that sehun had a friend that was looking out for him. or maybe, yixing was bitter that sehun's longtime friend was still with him.

“so, how come i haven't met seungwan yet?” yixing tried.

sehun met him with a shocked, “you haven't met her?”

bingo. sehun drags yixing off his bed and they leave ‘yixing's’ room, sehun determined to introduce yixing to his friend.

“call her wendy, though, she's not a fan of her real name,” sehun warned as they approached a room two doors from the bathroom.

yixing nodded and they entered the room. it was dark, curtains drawn shut and a desk lamp illuminating the small area. the space was awfully silent.

“is she in here?” yixing asked, his voice sounding louder in the quiet.

“yeah, um, she's probably just ‘sharing’,” sehun replied in a quieter voice. 

he crept over to where the a fairly sized bed was pressed into a corner, where yixing could faintly see a girl laying there amongst the absurd amount of pillows on the bed and floor. the way she laid almost suggested she had fainted or collapsed backwards, and yixing’s nurse instincts wanted to check for a pulse. instead sehun gently shook her, softly calling  _ “wendy”  _ and  _ “wake up”. _

wendy shot up, gasping for air and latching onto sehun's arm. she looked at sehun with wide eyes.

“i was so close.” she whispered. “‘han was right there.”

“who was?” yixing asked quickly, startling wendy and sehun. he wasted little time in walking over to wendy’s bed. “luhan?”

wendy eyed yixing warily. yixing couldn't see her well, but he saw the light catch on her light brown hair and her mouth turn downwards in a frown.

“you're yixing,” she states.

“that i am.”

“so what do you want?”

sehun looked between wendy and yixing quickly.

“who are trying to ‘share eyes with?” yixing finger quoted the phrase.

wendy smirked. “why are you wanting to know?” she presses.

yixing rolled his eyes, not wanting to play wendy’s game. he wanted answers, for god’s sake. yixing was sick and tired of the secrets around this place, the way everyone was privy to something yixing was not.

he wasn't fragile. he wasn't broken. he could handle it.

“is it luhan, or not?” yixing snapped quietly, albeit harshly. 

sehun shot him a shocked look, as if to say,  _ what the hell, man?  _ before glancing at wendy's challenging expression. yixing figured wendy was aware that her endeavors were being held from him.

“i'm trying to connect with luhan,” wendy finally reveals, resigning and backing up to lean against the wall. she sighed, giving sehun a forlorn look before fixing yixing with a stern one. “do you know how my ability works?”

“mostly.”

“luhan and i had a stronger connection than most. his abilities and mine were on the same level and we were able to communicate more than anyone else, so when he turned up missing…” wendy stopped a moment, and yixing felt her pain. “i thought i could reach him. see through him, find out where i.e.d. hid him- but i can’t get to him at all. what you walked in on was the closest i’ve ever gotten.”

yixing looked for signs of deception in wendy’s eyes, but saw none. all he saw was deep, heart wrenching pain. if wendy was aware that yixing was staring, she didn’t care.

“how does it work?” yixing asked instead. he'd rather not have salt pressed into his wounds. “can you show me?”

wendy looked at yixing, mouth agape, before regaining composure. “yeah- yeah, i can show you.”

she gestured for yixing to come closer, and he sat down on the bed next to her. wendy placed a hand on yixing's knees, which yixing found to be an awfully intimate gesture for someone he hardly knew. he felt a jolt of energy shoot through his body so quick he didn't have time to react, and then wendy’s hand on his knee was gone. yixing threw a quizzical look wendy’s way, and she shrugged.

“didn’t you want to know what i’m trying to do? i just established a connection with you,” wendy said briefly before reaching behind yixing to reach the pillows on the floor. yixing looked her, astonished. that was all it took to create a bond with someone? it felt as if it was nothing more than just a static shock.

yixing was quiet as he watched wendy lay out the pillows on the bed. she leaned them against the walls that the bed was pressed into, muttering a  _ “don’t know where you’ll go” _ . after looking and rearranging them a few more times, wendy looked back at sehun.

“are you going to join, ‘hunnie?” she asked distractedly, finding another space on the walls that her pillows wouldn’t cover.

sehun shook his head, saying, “i’ll pass. i think someone should make sure yixing doesn’t fall off the bed.”

“fall off the bed?” yixing repeated with a short laugh, but faltered when he saw the lack of amusement in wendy and sehun’s eyes. “are you serious? what's going to happen, i'm going to pass out or something?”

“something similar,” wendy said nonchalantly. “try to fall backwards into the pillows rather than the hardwood.”

yixing recalled when him and sehun first walked in on wendy, how she looked as though she had passed out on the bed.

“why do you faint when you share eyes?” yixing asked.

“it's because i'm not a strong inhuman,” wendy replied in almost an upset tone. sehun snorted and muttered something, but wendy overrode him. “stop it, sehun,  you know it's true. most inhumans with the shared vision ability can keep themselves conscious as they share eyes, but i don't have that kind of power.”

“yet,” sehun stuck onto the end of wendy’s sentence.

wendy rolled her eyes. “at all,” she replied, focusing her attention on yixing. “ready?”

“as i'll ever be.” yixing took a shaky breath. he didn't know what was going to happen or what he would see.

wendy took yixing's hands into hers and held them out between them. she closed her eyes slowly, releasing a small sigh before letting her tense shoulders relax. yixing felt a low thrum of energy pulsing through his body, and he sent sehun an almost panicked look. the younger, from where he stood protectively over the bed, only nodded.

yixing looked back as wendy, who was pale, and shuddered.

then wendy let out a shaky breath, and fell backwards.

of course, yixing didn't see wendy fall, because he was currently slipping from consciousness himself. he drifted to the side, the  _ wrong side,  _ almost smacking his head against the desk before strong hands caught him.

  
✆  
  


yixing was floating. darkness surrounded him as he whipped his head around to look for something to ground him. nothing tangible was in sight, the blackness around him stretching as far as he could see. yixing was beginning to panic. where had everything gone?

then yixing remembered wendy. he figured he was in an abyss of sorts, drifting around until he found a connection to see through- wait. yixing wasn't a seer, he wasn't going to ever find a connection.

“wendy!” yixing called and he heard his voice echo. he tried again.

in the distance, yixing heard labored breathing. no. it was everywhere. the sound was coming from all around yixing, the breath tickling the baby hairs on the back of yixing neck.

then a pained groan echoed all around yixing, and he knew who it was.

“luhan!” yixing yelled, trying to reach his friend desperately. he floundered around, thrashing and grabbing for something,  _ something  _ to stop this strange suspension.

there was many noises filling yixing's ears now: shuffling papers, footsteps walking frantically around, keys clicking on a keyboard. it was over stimulating and loud and yixing couldn't  _ think,  _ the blaring panic making his body shake with anxiety.

_ luhan,  _ yixing thought blindly.  _ luhan is right there. if i can just see where he is…  _

_ “tell me, where is your hideout?” _

the man’s voice that resounded all around yixing was dark and raspy, sending chills down yixing’s spine.

when the silence dragged out, yixing heard a loud crash, and the man yelling.

_ “tell me where they are, dammit!” _

_ “sir,”  _ said a woman’s voice, and yixing had to strain to hear her.  _ “he’s not going to-” _

_ “did i ask for your input, ahn?! leave- in fact, clear the room!” _

yixing heard metal screeching and a heavy sigh. luhan let out a quiet whimper, almost inaudible if yixing didn't know what it sounded like, and the man spoke again.

_ “i want to speak to him,  _ alone.”

the man's voice began to fade, and yixing was sinking. he was drifting away from the connection and he tried to hold onto what he could still hear. anxiety settled in his chest and his throat constricted until yixing felt as though he couldn't breathe. his legs began to feel full of lead and it was an awful reminder of being chased in the alley.

it was faint, so faint, but yixing heard a broken cry ring out among the abyss, shaking yixing to the core.

he was shaking violently, panic thundering inside him as he searched for a way out. yixing didn't want to be in this place anymore, he didn't want to hear his friend in pain, he didn't want to feel nothing and float around. yixing wanted  _ out.  _

he couldn't help the tears that streamed down his face and he felt hopeless.

“wendy,” he said quietly. “if you can hear me, stop. i'm done, i've seen what i wanted. make it stop.”

_ “s-stop it,” _ breathed luhan’s voice from all around yixing. it was so quiet, so broken, so  _ not  _ luhan.

yixing took a shaky breath before calling out to his friend. “lu, we're going to find you.”

there was a sharp intake of air.  _ “x-xing?” _

yixing's lungs stopped working. luhan heard him?

_ “xing? what is xing? who is xing?”  _ the dark voice interrogated, and yixing heart skipped a beat at the sound.

_ “what is ‘xing’, you bastard!” _

luhan’s groan was cut short by an enormous amount of force shoving into yixing's left side, yanking him down until he felt something solid press against his back. he felt himself disconnecting with luhan and pulling back into the real world, and desperately tried to hold onto his friend. yixing had felt luhan near. like wendy, he has been  _ so close. _

yixing felt himself jolting awake and he felt that he was falling. he grabbed at the nearest solid object for stability, his eyes still squeezed shut. 

“get up, hurry. c'mon yixing, open your eyes.”

yixing felt his vision swimming, and he felt nauseous.

“it's always a hard transition back for first timers. you should know.”

“i know, i- look, jun is looking for him a-and you both are going to be in a  _ world  _ of hurt if he knows-”

yixing cracked his eyes open to see a worried baekhyun hovering over him, their faces too close for comfort. when their eyes met, baekhyun stopped his sentence short and smiled.

“there you are. are you alright?” baekhyun asked quietly, either unaware or uncaring that he was in yixing’s face. his breath smelled like mint toothpaste despite it being the middle of the afternoon, yixing noted.

the grip yixing had on baekhyun’s arm must've hurt, and yixing doesn’t even remember why he had hold of it

yixing opened his mouth to respond, maybe to tell baekhyun to back up, he hadn't decided yet, when the door swung opened. startled by the sudden noise, yixing jumped and smacked his forehead against baekhyun’s, both of them simultaneously groaning in pain.

“i figured as much,” said a voice that yixing immediately attached to junmyeon’s face.

baekhyun stepped away from yixing, and they both looked towards the door. junmyeon entered the room, unceremoniously flicking on the lights to reveal his angry expression. yixing heard sehun and baekhyun whine at the abrupt change of lighting.

junmyeon opened his mouth to speak, but yixing beat him to it.

“why wouldn't you tell me you're trying to find luhan?” yixing asked quickly, getting the words out before he could think about them.

junmyeon didn't speak, only clenched his jaw and averted his gaze. yixing recognized the look, yifan used to make it when trainees tried to make half-hearted excuses about their mistakes. it was a look that told yixing he didn't want to have this conversation, but yixing wanted answers.

baekhyun cleared his throat. “i think-”

“i think i want an answer from junmyeon,” yixing interrupted. he didn't break his gaze from where it sat on junmyeon. “since it seems that he's the one that orchestrated the big secret.”

a small part of told him to act more sensibly about the situation, but another part of him boiled in frustration that this had been kept from him. yixing  _ knew  _ luhan. in just a few moments, he was able to make his voice heard in luhan’s head. he was helpful.

junmyeon raised an eyebrow as he met yixing's hard eyes.

“do you think i kept it from you to hinder you? t-to keep you in the dark while we worked behind the scenes?” junmyeon asked lowly, exasperated. “i told the others not to tell you because i didn't think you could handle it. you're still-”

yixing saw minseok appear in the doorway, his expression confused. “what happened?” he found yixing. “does he know-”

“yeah, i do.” yixing said, loud and clear. he stood up off the bed, a slight lightheadedness taking over him as he walked to the door.

tension was thick, like a bubble getting ready to burst at any wrong move. junmyeon was glaring dangers at sehun, wendy found interest in the wall, and minseok stepped out of yixing's as he stepped through the threshold. yixing silently dismissed himself and started down the hallway, feeling minseok’s eyes follow him.

“you know lu heard him, right?” wendy said loud enough for yixing to hear.

“maybe i should talk to him,” junmyeon replied.

yixing wasn't proud to admit he stalled in the corridor to listen.

“maybe you shouldn't,” baekhyun interjected, audibly upset. “he's not going to want to talk to you at all.”

then yixing heard movement towards the door and hastened his pace towards his room. he quickly slipped inside the dark wood door, pressing his back against it and hearing the door  _ click!  _ shut. 

yixing thought about what he now knew. the chances of luhan being alive were high. he was likely being used for information, so that i.e.d. could find this group of people. they must’ve stirred up a good amount of trouble and landed on the government’s radar, which yixing couldn’t tell if that was necessarily good. if yixing had stayed a little longer in that abyss, maybe he could’ve found luhan. maybe a connection could be established, maybe he could see where his friend was. why was yixing able to make that connection? how was he able to hear his friend and speak to him? what did it-

a soft knock on the door made yixing realize he was still pressed against it.

“are you alright?” baekhyun asked for second time that day, and yixing strained to hear the other's voice.

yixing's lack of words gave baekhyun an answer. the younger knocked again softly before asking yixing to open the door in a soft, kind voice, almost as if yixing was a wounded animal that needed assistance. 

“unless you want to see me climb through the window, and trust me, you don't,” baekhyun stated matter-of-factly after a prolonged silence.

yixing chuckled slightly at the thought of baekhyun trying to scale the building. he moved to the side enough for the door to crack open, and baekhyun somehow squeezed in through the gap.

“hey,” baekhyun said with a hint of a smile on his face. yixing realized he always looked like that, always ready to share his light- figuratively- with anyone that needs it. he met yixing’s eyes and yixing saw the remorse in baekhyun’s.

“sorry,” baekhyun started again when all yixing did was stare. “about luhan, it wasn’t right- or fair to you. i should’ve told you, you could’ve helped  us- i mean, you did and lu heard you and he responded and the closest wendy has gotten-”

baekhyun stopped himself, taking a deep breath and starting again.

“what i’m trying to say is that you deserved to know, and… i’m sorry we didn’t tell you.”

yixing nodded, passing baekhyun to sit on the bed. it had been what- two weeks? three? - since yixing started living with yifan and luhan’s friends, but he still felt that he was an outsider to the tight-knit group. baekhyun was by far the most sociable person in the building, and though yixing was grateful for his presence, sometimes it felt as though baekhyun almost pitied him. this felt like one of those times, baekhyun walking across eggshells for yixing in fear of upsetting the older. yixing hated the feeling.

instead of acknowledging baekhyun’s apology, yixing simply peered across the room to look at the midday sun that warmed the room.

“do you think what happened today proves that luhan is alive?” yixing decides to ask instead. “i mean, he  _ heard  _ me. we  _ communicated.  _ isn’t that proof enough that he’s out there? him and jonghyun?”

“i mean- yeah, but there’s a lot we..,” baekhyun fumbled over his words only to fall quiet at yixing’s determined expression. “what?”

“so shouldn’t we go find him?”

“yixing, you can’t just storm president moon’s home and demand answers. we’re doing everything we can.” baekhyun looked more frustrated than yixing, carding his fingers quickly through his hair and ruffling it unevenly.

“plus, we don’t have the resources or the power to take on i.e.d. yet,” baekhyun added. “no one does, except- nah, he wouldn’t help us. anyways, i guarantee that seulgi would cry if she had to hurt someone and according to jongin, you don’t even know how to fight-”

yixing felt a rush of heat to his face and he rushed words out of his mouth before he was comprehending them.

“then teach me.” 

baekhyun looked at him, dumbfounded. “what?”

_ too late to go back now _ . “teach me. you know how to, right?”

baekhyun almost laughed- almost, but his face turned down in thought. he stared at yixing quizzically before his mouth turned upwards in an awfully  _ wicked  _ and mischievous grin.

“sure, i know how to fight,” baekhyun said in an almost melodic voice, “but i'm sure as hell not going to be your teacher. you should learn from people that  _ really _ get fighting.”

with a promise to train in the morning, baekhyun left a perplexed yixing still sitting on the bed.

 

✆

 

yixing was gasping for air, his eyes trying to avoid the harsh fluorescent lighting above him. the ache in his side was decently bothersome, and yixing wondered how close this pain was to a broken rib.  _ could've had it worse,  _ yixing thought as his hands slid over the smoothness of the gym mats laid across the tile floor.

“again,” kyungsoo’s voice said from above him, much unlike the friendly man yixing first met.

“again?” yixing tried to keep the whine out of his voice. that was the fourth time yixing had landed on the mats.

kyungsoo stepped into yixing's line of vision and extended a hand. “until i can't knock you over anymore.”

“that's gonna take a while.”

“good thing we have a while.”

the comment pulled laughs out of baekhyun and minseok, who watched from a lunch table a few feet away. the ‘training area’ was different than what yixing initially imagined, as it consisted of a few mats spread out across the cafeteria floor. it was better than slamming into tile, however, as yixing felt a familiar ache between his shoulder blades.

kyungsoo grasped onto yixing's hand and yanked him to his feet without hesitation. his strength must come in handy, yixing figured.

yixing wondered if his healing abilities came with added bonuses, similar to how kyungsoo’s strength was only an addition to his earth-manipulation capabilities. maybe he had killer kicks, or something. that would be nice.

“you’ve got to be quick on your feet,” minseok called from the table. “you’re too slow, too easy to catch.”

“i’m gonna punch him,” yixing whispered to kyungsoo.

the shorter smirked. “if you can catch him.”

yixing barely had a second to react before kyungsoo was coming at him again, his hands moving and grasping yixing rapidly.

“yah, take it easy on him,” baekhyun called out after yixing landed on his back once more. “you're gonna paralyze the poor kid.”

“last i- uuugh-” yixing groaned as he stood up again. “last i checked, i'm older than you,  _ kid. _ ”

baekhyun’s smirk deepened, then he was clambering off the table bench and onto the mats. yixing heard kyungsoo mutter that baekhyun was an “insufferable brat” before stepping aside.

“so, if i’m just a ‘kid,’” baekhyun said in a lower voice, “you should be able to beat me, right?”

yixing debated his options. he could say no, lie and say that he was tired and didn’t want to fight anymore. that sounded weak. he could say yes, that gave him a chance to at least try and hold of baekhyun’s attacks. the boy didn’t look like much of a fighter, anyway.

“i think i can hold my own against you,” yixing said.

“you think,” baekhyun laughed, “but you don’t know.”

yixing felt any confidence he had about beating baekhyun drain out of his body. he vaguely heard kyungsoo dismiss them to spar as baekhyun took his first swing, which yixing dodged easily. baekhyun was sluggish, yixing realized. his swings were unrefined- not that yixing’s were better.

so yixing caught baekhyun’s left hand and was able to yank the younger around and trap him with his one arm. baekhyun’s back was flush with yixing’s chest as he tried to pry his body away from the older’s and yixing was able to grasp onto baekhyun’s right wrist and confine the boy even further.

yixing almost,  _ almost  _ congratulated himself when he felt baekhyun’s leg twist around his right one, and then yixing fell-  _ hard.  _ he smacked his head roughly on the mat and could feel his easing headache return quickly. then baekhyun turned and sat down on yixing’s chest, effectively pinning him down with his bum on yixing’s chest and his knees on yixing’s wrists. yixing groaned as he tried to roll baekhyun off but failed, hearing baekhyun laugh melodically.

“ _ i  _ might be slow,” baekhyun taunted, seemingly breathless from the short spar, “but  _ you  _ are unbalanced.”

“alright, byun, let him up,” minseok called from the sidelines before yixing could even think about being embarrassed. yixing’s peripherals caught him standing up and moving around the cafeteria. “he’s probably tired, and sore, and people want to eat dinner. let’s call it a day.”

baekhyun pulled himself to his feet and then extended his hand to yixing, who took it with a short sigh and allowed himself to be hauled to his feet. yixing noticed jongdae and jongin entering the kitchen and flicking on the light, chatting amiably between each other.

“hey ‘dae, what’s to eat?” baekhyun wondered aloud. he padded softly across the mats and sat down next to kyungsoo, who had fetched several bottles of water for all of them.

jongin appeared in the doorway. “maybe if you cooked, you’d know,” he sassed.

“why would he cook if ‘soo can do it better?” minseok questioned.

yixing chuckled, saying, “i don’t know if i trust baekhyun with a stove.”

baekhyun whined in protest as he weakly reached out to hit yixing’s arm. yixing shrugged away and leaned into minseok instead.

“you guys are mean,” baekhyun pouted. “i’m going upstairs.”

baekhyun stood and stomped animatedly to the cafeteria door, and yixing reluctantly stood to go catch him. the younger wasn’t upset now, but likely would be if no one went after him. yixing figured out that baekhyun enjoyed,  _ really enjoyed,  _ being the center of attention. so yixing quickened his pace to try and grasp onto baekhyun’s wrist which was swinging wildly around as baekhyun made a show of leaving. 

as soon as yixing’s  fingers grazed baekhyun’s skin, baekhyun flinched away, shooting yixing a mischievous glance before skipping over the door. “are you trying to catch me, yixing?” baekhyun teased.

“i won’t admit to anything,” yixing replied, “but slow down. i’m tired.”

baekhyun wiggled his hips and hastened his pace to the door, yixing almost having to double his speed to be near him. they rushed towards the door, baekhyun starting to laugh and yixing found himself giggling along. baekhyun turned the corner, peeking a glance back at yixing, and-

“oh!” baekhyun ran full force into joohyun and junmyeon, which resulted in several papers falling to the floor and joohyun softly sighing.

“are you alright?” joohyun asked baekhyun and junmyeon, who both nodded. “good. let’s pick these up.”

yixing crouched down and began to shuffle the papers into one general pile, briefly looking at them. lots of hospital records, junmyeon’s work, receipts, and-

_ what is this? _

at the top of the paper was the word ‘missing’ in big, bold, red letters. the line under that showed a woman with choppy blonde hair and bright smile, her eyes wide with excitement. yixing’s curiosity peaked and he read the text below.

 

**missing:**

**have you seen kim yerim?**

**kim yerim, aged 19, was last seen on april 28th, at a beach party on sangju beach.**

**if you have seen this person, please contact +55 67 917 8953 or kds138@sbcglobal.net**

**80, 000** **₩** **reward**

**please help!**

 

“what is this?” yixing asked, baekhyun leaned over to peer at what yixing held when he turned it to show junmyeon.

 

“ah.” junmyeon pondered on his words for a moment, his lips pursed as joohyun glanced at him.

“she, kim yerim, is- or will be- our newest recruit.”

joohyun carefully took the paper from yixing.

"if we can find her."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> creativity for this next coming chapter is hitting me full force right now. i know e x a c t l y what i want to put out for you guys, it's just a matter of if i can write it.
> 
> i hope you guys liked this chapter! i'm so sorry for such a long break :(


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